| Why Wuhan Is at the Center of the Viral Outbreak Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:28 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- China's happiest city isn't so happy these days. Wuhan, which branded itself as a Chinese version of Phoenix, is now the epicenter of a SARS-like virus that has sickened hundreds. It's worth asking why this disease came out of an inland technology hub that boasts a young — and presumably healthier — workforce, rather than the mega-cities of Beijing or Shanghai.Wuhan is an immigrants' town. It's home to one of China's most prestigious engineering schools, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Roughly 9% of the population is university students, well above the 3% level for Beijing and Shanghai. As of 2018, more than 11 million lived there — making it 25% bigger than New York — but only 8.8 million are permanent residents. As a result, millions living in Wuhan have been traveling for the Lunar New Year. During last year's festival season, the city's main railway station, which is only one kilometer (0.62 miles) from the seafood market where the outbreak began, hosted 5.5 million commuters. While China suspended all railway travel and flights out of Wuhan on Thursday, much of the traveling may have already been done. The engineering school, for instance, started its winter break on Jan. 9.Wuhan has been carefully fostering a reputation as an alternative to Shenzhen. In its latest five-year plan, the city set a target of keeping 1 million college graduates by relaxing its hukou system, the equivalent of a green card that entitles holders to social services such as public-school education. Roughly 21 million travelers passed through the city's airport in 2016, and a new terminal can host 35 million a year. Chinese society has become a lot more mobile since the SARS epidemic of 2003.The high volume of labor migration isn't to blame, however. A city may well expand in size, but basic public services must keep up, too. Take a look at Wuhan's fiscal spending. While money has poured into hot areas such as technology research, expenditure on public health has been stagnant. As recently as last June, Wuhan residents complained about poor hygiene at the seafood market, but the municipality didn't respond. While Beijing and Shanghai host lots of migrants, too, both cities spend more on this sector. Populations there have flattened amid restrictions on labor inflows. Granted, money is tight for local governments as the economy slows, especially after last year's $300 billion tax cut. As a result, bureaucrats have to make a tough decision between grants to chip designers and public health. The former serves President Xi Jinping's Made in China 2025 drive, while the latter minimizes black swan scenarios.The temptation, unfortunately, is that local officials embrace China's industrial ambitions. It's a lot easier to make a plan for the future than fix the past. After all, the Chinese have had a taste for exotic animal meat for centuries; why should we worry about the hygiene of a wet market now? Until this mentality is cleansed, however, we can only expect more outbreaks.To contact the author of this story: Shuli Ren at sren38@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She previously wrote on markets for Barron's, following a career as an investment banker, and is a CFA charterholder.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.
|
| Why Wuhan Is at the Center of the Viral Outbreak Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:28 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- China's happiest city isn't so happy these days. Wuhan, which branded itself as a Chinese version of Phoenix, is now the epicenter of a SARS-like virus that has sickened hundreds. It's worth asking why this disease came out of an inland technology hub that boasts a young — and presumably healthier — workforce, rather than the mega-cities of Beijing or Shanghai.Wuhan is an immigrants' town. It's home to one of China's most prestigious engineering schools, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Roughly 9% of the population is university students, well above the 3% level for Beijing and Shanghai. As of 2018, more than 11 million lived there — making it 25% bigger than New York — but only 8.8 million are permanent residents. As a result, millions living in Wuhan have been traveling for the Lunar New Year. During last year's festival season, the city's main railway station, which is only one kilometer (0.62 miles) from the seafood market where the outbreak began, hosted 5.5 million commuters. While China suspended all railway travel and flights out of Wuhan on Thursday, much of the traveling may have already been done. The engineering school, for instance, started its winter break on Jan. 9.Wuhan has been carefully fostering a reputation as an alternative to Shenzhen. In its latest five-year plan, the city set a target of keeping 1 million college graduates by relaxing its hukou system, the equivalent of a green card that entitles holders to social services such as public-school education. Roughly 21 million travelers passed through the city's airport in 2016, and a new terminal can host 35 million a year. Chinese society has become a lot more mobile since the SARS epidemic of 2003.The high volume of labor migration isn't to blame, however. A city may well expand in size, but basic public services must keep up, too. Take a look at Wuhan's fiscal spending. While money has poured into hot areas such as technology research, expenditure on public health has been stagnant. As recently as last June, Wuhan residents complained about poor hygiene at the seafood market, but the municipality didn't respond. While Beijing and Shanghai host lots of migrants, too, both cities spend more on this sector. Populations there have flattened amid restrictions on labor inflows. Granted, money is tight for local governments as the economy slows, especially after last year's $300 billion tax cut. As a result, bureaucrats have to make a tough decision between grants to chip designers and public health. The former serves President Xi Jinping's Made in China 2025 drive, while the latter minimizes black swan scenarios.The temptation, unfortunately, is that local officials embrace China's industrial ambitions. It's a lot easier to make a plan for the future than fix the past. After all, the Chinese have had a taste for exotic animal meat for centuries; why should we worry about the hygiene of a wet market now? Until this mentality is cleansed, however, we can only expect more outbreaks.To contact the author of this story: Shuli Ren at sren38@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She previously wrote on markets for Barron's, following a career as an investment banker, and is a CFA charterholder.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.
|
| Trial highlights: Democrats roll out case as senators fidget Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:25 PM PST  House prosecutors faced fidgeting senators as they rolled out their case against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the trial's previous session having lasted a fatigue-inducing 13 hours. Trump was busy himself, returning from an international business conference but finding time to send 120-plus tweets that included trial commentary and criticism. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead prosecutor, spoke for more than two hours, laying out the case House Democrats made in weeks of hearings last year.
|
| Case for impeachment fails to disturb McConnell's sweet dreams of acquittal Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:24 PM PST  Adam Schiff eloquently made the House's case that the republic is in danger from Donald Trump but Republicans' reaction was heavy-lidded He fought. Oh, how he fought. But Mitch McConnell's battle with drowsy eyelids was a lost cause. The 77-year-old senator's head bobbed and drooped. An alarmed aide sat at his side, powerless, as McConnell surrendered to the arms of Morpheus.It was 1.40pm on Wednesday and House impeachment manager Adam Schiff was in full flow, prosecuting the impeachment case against Donald Trump. Over nearly two and a half hours, McConnell would not be the only Republican senator to nod off, yawn, rub their eyes or bolt the chamber.According to Schiff, the house was on fire, the republic was in jeopardy and democracy itself was threatened by "a president who would be king". Yet the response on one side of the aisle was insouciance and somnolence. Was it mere fatigue, after Tuesday's marathon that had run until nearly 2am? Or was it sheer boredom on the part of jurors who have already cleared the accused in their minds and are now just going through the motions?The session had begun with pointed comments by the Senate chaplain, Barry Black, in a prayer for the senators. "Help them remember that patriots reside on both sides of the aisle, that words have consequences and that how something is said can be as important as what is said," said Black, sporting a bow tie. "Give them a civility built upon integrity that brings consistency in their beliefs and actions."Then Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives' intelligence committee, stepped up to the podium to lead opening arguments. Reading from typed A4 sheets in a ring binder, he delivered a tour de force that was both epic and intimate, historically sweeping yet highly specific, offering a view from both 30,000 feet and the microscope.Schiff began by quoting from founding father Alexander Hamilton in a 1792 letter to George Washington that refers to "a man unprincipled in private life" and "bold in his temper" who is "known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty" and is "seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity" with an intention to "ride the storm and direct the whirlwind".History rhymes. The California congressman acknowledged the founders' flaws but also their genius and prescience, though as the years pass, he noted, it becomes harder to imagine them as human beings. "This is no less true of Alexander Hamilton, notwithstanding his own return to celebrity."It was a nod to Hamilton, the unlikely Broadway musical hit about the former treasury secretary. (The world now awaits Lin-Manuel Miranda's sequel, a rap musical about Rudy Giuliani's adventures in Ukraine.)Schiff set out a case painfully familiar to those who have been following the matter (which is by no means everyone). Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into two discredited allegations that would benefit Trump's 2020 presidential election campaign, he said."When the Ukrainian president did not immediately agree, Trump withheld two official acts to induce the Ukrainian leader to comply – a head of state meeting and hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to a strategic partner at war with Russia. It was a corrupt scheme to secure foreign help with his re-election, in other words, to cheat."Carefully and cleverly, Schiff portrayed a web that has Vladimir Putin has at its centre. In his version, the infamous Ukraine phone call was not separate and distinct from the Trump-Russia investigation but all of a piece."The military aid we provide Ukraine helps to protect and advance American national security interests in the region and beyond," he said. "America has an abiding interest in stemming Russian expansionism."The Senate was shown, on video screens, clips including Trump the candidate urging Russia to find Hillary Clinton's hacked emails and the former White House expert Fiona Hill warning against the repetition of Russia propaganda talking points about a Ukrainian computer server – her accent from the English town of Bishop Auckland resounding in the chamber.Another clip was of Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, declaring: "I have news for everybody. Get over it. There's going to be political influence in foreign policy."Schiff commented: "Should we just 'get over it?' Is that what we've come to? I hope and pray the answer is no." Unless Trump is held accountable and removed from office, he warned, the next president mighty simply say: "Just get over it. I'm just doing what Donald Trump did. Just get over it."Above all, Schiff made a masterly plea for the soul of the nation. He entreated senators to put the constitution before party and warned that every generation has to fight anew for democracy and freedom. "If we don't stand up to this peril today, we will write the history of our decline with our own hand."Watching from afar, David Axelrod, former strategist for Barack Obama, tweeted: "Devastating, epic presentation by @RepAdamSchiff to open trial. Will it matter?"He might as well have asked if facts matter. Think of Schiff as Clarence Darrow, a legal maestro who, at the "Scopes monkey trial" in 1925, challenged a Tennessee state law that banned the teaching of evolution. He was opposed by a defender of biblical creationism. He lost.Nearly a century later, the Republican defence appears to be based on blind faith in Trump and the verdict on his conduct is preordained. As Schiff went on, McConnell, the Senate majority leader, nodded off a few times. The aide at his side wondered what to do while remaining tactful, eventually summoning a younger staffer to place a glass of water on McConnell's desk, thereby making him stir.Fellow Republicans dozed, slumped, rubbed their eyes or stretched their legs. When Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached, his successor Gerald Ford declared "our long national nightmare is over". This time, the party refuses to wake up.
|
| U.K. Has a Plan to Harness Its Land to Hit Net Zero Emissions Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. has a plan on how to use its land to hit its goal of zeroing out greenhouse-gas emissions by the middle of the century. It'll will require a total transformation in the way farmers, land managers and consumers operate to work.Greenhouse gas emissions from land use and agriculture in Britain haven't fallen at the same rate as other industries over the last three decades. To reach net zero by 2050, emissions coming from the way land is used must be slashed by 64%, according to the first in-depth study of the issue published by the Committee on Climate Change, a panel advising the government on environmental issues.Sweeping changes will be required across the U.K. economy to meet the government's ambitious net-zero goal, which has been enshrined in law. Agriculture makes up about 12% of the nation's emissions and won't be able to avoid that transformation.The report released Thursday by the nation's independent climate change adviser maps out possible routes for lawmakers to cut emissions. Those include tree planting, low-carbon farming, restoring peatlands, stimulating bioenergy crops, reducing food waste and changing diets.Should the ruling Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government take on all the advice, the measures would cost about 1.4 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) a year. The net social benefit could be as much as 4 billion pounds a year, the committee said. As a comparison, the U.K. currently pays in 3.3 billion pounds a year into the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy in 2018."This is a report of how you do it," John Gummer, chair of the CCC, said in a briefing. "This is a key moment because we are now moving from good hearted determination, commitments, electoral discussions to delivery. It now has to fall to the government to supply the means." Trees, Trees and More TreesPlanting new forests and restoring old ones has become a major focal point for climate mitigation and is seen as an easy political win in the U.K. During the last general election, all major parties made commitments for some form of reforestation program. The CCC said the U.K. should increase land covered by forests to at least 17% by 2050, up from 13% now. That would still be well short of the average across the European Union of 33%.For the U.K., this means planting as many as 120 million broad-leaf or conifer trees every year until in the 2050s. That could serve as the nation's contribution to the World Economic Forum's initiative to plant 1 trillion trees around the world by 2030, which was announced earlier this week in Davos, Switzerland.Farmers and land managers aren't likely to do this on their own. The committee suggests using existing market instruments to give incentives for planting programs. Those could include a kind of feed-in tariff, like the mechanism that underpinned the boom in renewable capacity, or a carbon trading facility. Both of those could be funded by a levy on greenhouse gas polluters, the body suggested.Cutting It OutSlashing farm-related emissions shouldn't come at the expense of producing less food or importing more from countries with looser regulations, the CCC said. To effectively cut harmful farming emissions such as methane and ammonia, the U.K. should encourage the use of controlled-release fertilizers, which produce fewer harmful pollutants over time. It also could sharpen regulation of livestock health and look at ways that selective breeding in cattle can reduce methane. Those policies along with more low-carbon fuels could save the equivalent of 10 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2050.Bio-Energy CropsNew policies should accelerate and expand the growth of bio-energy crops to about 23,000 hectares every year to 2050, the panel said. Carbon pricing could be used to ensure long-term supply, and biomass facilities should commit to sourcing a certain proportion of their raw materials from the U.K. instead of importing them from abroad. Lawmakers should also help with the use of biomass as a fuel with carbon, capture and storage."This government is talking quite a green game, but people are waiting to see what it means in terms of actual policy," Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the of Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, said in an interview. "There will be more freedom to reallocate money, such as the sum spent on the Common Agricultural Policy. That wouldn't have been possible inside the EU, but it will become possible after Brexit."Other highlights from the report:Restore at least 50% of upland peat and 25% of lowland peat to reduce emissions by 5 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2050 Reduce by 20% the 13.6 million tons of annual U.K. food waste and cut the consumption of beef, lamb and dairy by at around 20% per person To contact the authors of this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.netAkshat Rathi in London at arathi39@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Will MathisFor 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.
|
| China fails to repatriate North Korea workers despite UN sanctions -U.S. official Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:47 PM PST ![China fails to repatriate North Korea workers despite UN sanctions -U.S. official]( "China fails to repatriate North Korea workers despite UN sanctions -U.S. official") China has failed to send home North Korean workers by a December deadline in violation of United Nations sanctions, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, adding that this was why Washington blacklisted two entities involved in Pyongyang's labor export. A 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution, which China backed, demanded that all countries repatriate all North Korean workers by Dec. 22 to stop them earning foreign currency for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The United States has estimated Pyongyang was earning more than $500 million a year from nearly 100,000 workers abroad, of which some 50,000 were in China and 30,000 in Russia.
|
| Cynics Are Wrong. The Impeachment Trial Matters. Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:26 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- U.S. Representative Adam Schiff began the House impeachment managers' case for the conviction of President Donald Trump with a masterful opening statement in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.In a bit over two hours — especially impressive after a session that ended well after midnight on Tuesday — Schiff did an excellent job of weaving together the basic facts of Trump's attempt to pressure a foreign government to help his 2020 re-election campaign, and to explain why it should persuade senators to remove the president from office. He effectively used video clips from House impeachment hearings to make the argument more vivid. And he included just enough poetry to drive home the importance of the president's actions and the Senate's choices.As he summed up the first article of impeachment, charging Trump with pressuring Ukraine to launch a criminal investigation of a leading Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, Schiff, who is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, talked not about Trump but about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and about the differences between Putinist autocracy and U.S. democracy. It was a powerful framework for thinking about why Trump's actions should not be excused or ignored.I can hear a lot of cynics, however, humming their chorus. It doesn't matter, the lyrics go; everyone has made up their partisan minds. And it's almost certainly true that a somewhat better or somewhat worse presentation from either side isn't going to make the difference between whether Trump will be acquitted — the almost certain result at this point — or convicted and removed. Indeed, there's evidence that a lot of Republican senators aren't bothering to pay attention.And ...Nevertheless, don't believe the cynics.For one thing, it is certainly possible that a few of the less-zealous partisans in the Senate — Republicans such as Tennessee's Lamar Alexander, Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Utah's Mitt Romney, and Democrats including West Virginia's Joe Manchin, Alabama's Doug Jones, and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema — could change their votes on procedural matters and even possibly their final votes based in part on what they hear during the trial. And, for that matter, on how the trial presentations are covered by the press. Trial oratory wouldn't be the only factor, or even a major factor, but could it matter at the margins? Sure.But that's only the beginning. The Senate trial is receiving tons of media coverage. It's going to affect how the people paying attention, including reporters and editors, think about impeachment and about Trump. It could have effects on Trump's approval ratings, which in turn could make it easier or harder to get things done. It might even, at the margins, have small effects on the 2020 elections. It could have effects, too, on Trump's professional reputation, which also could make it easier or harder for him to convince people to go along with things he wants. There are also a lot of specific precedents that will be set about how Senate impeachment trials work in the future. This trial, whatever the verdict, will either raise or lower the bar for what a future House of Representatives might do, and how a future Senate is likely to act. What happens in the trial will also affect the course of the presidency. Will future presidents take the threat of impeachment seriously? Or will they think of it as a small annoyance that isn't worth avoiding? Will they feel secure in resisting what has been up to now routine congressional oversight, or will they accept that bargaining with Congress is part of the rules of the game? Will they feel emboldened to ignore the law when it comes to appropriations, or will they accept that spending law is binding? All presidents take domestic politics into account in foreign affairs, and rightly so, but will future presidents remember this episode and feel licensed to conduct foreign affairs for their own narrow personal interest — or will they remember this episode and exercise caution?Or, to put it more or less as Schiff did: Will the U.S. wind up a stronger democracy after this trial — or a lesser one?The answer to all those questions depends in part on how the public comes to understand what happened in 2019-2020. And that understanding will be, in part, created by what happens in the Senate right now, how it is reported, and how the citizenry reacts to it. The public assessment will be affected by the performances of the House managers and the president's lawyers. So yes, the cynics are surely correct that senators aren't likely to be persuaded by Schiff, his colleagues or his trial adversaries when they finally vote on removing the president. But that doesn't mean that the conduct of the trial won't affect the rest of Trump's administration and the future of U.S. democracy. To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.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.
|
| Cynics Are Wrong. The Impeachment Trial Matters. Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:26 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- U.S. Representative Adam Schiff began the House impeachment managers' case for the conviction of President Donald Trump with a masterful opening statement in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.In a bit over two hours — especially impressive after a session that ended well after midnight on Tuesday — Schiff did an excellent job of weaving together the basic facts of Trump's attempt to pressure a foreign government to help his 2020 re-election campaign, and to explain why it should persuade senators to remove the president from office. He effectively used video clips from House impeachment hearings to make the argument more vivid. And he included just enough poetry to drive home the importance of the president's actions and the Senate's choices.As he summed up the first article of impeachment, charging Trump with pressuring Ukraine to launch a criminal investigation of a leading Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, Schiff, who is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, talked not about Trump but about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and about the differences between Putinist autocracy and U.S. democracy. It was a powerful framework for thinking about why Trump's actions should not be excused or ignored.I can hear a lot of cynics, however, humming their chorus. It doesn't matter, the lyrics go; everyone has made up their partisan minds. And it's almost certainly true that a somewhat better or somewhat worse presentation from either side isn't going to make the difference between whether Trump will be acquitted — the almost certain result at this point — or convicted and removed. Indeed, there's evidence that a lot of Republican senators aren't bothering to pay attention.And ...Nevertheless, don't believe the cynics.For one thing, it is certainly possible that a few of the less-zealous partisans in the Senate — Republicans such as Tennessee's Lamar Alexander, Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Utah's Mitt Romney, and Democrats including West Virginia's Joe Manchin, Alabama's Doug Jones, and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema — could change their votes on procedural matters and even possibly their final votes based in part on what they hear during the trial. And, for that matter, on how the trial presentations are covered by the press. Trial oratory wouldn't be the only factor, or even a major factor, but could it matter at the margins? Sure.But that's only the beginning. The Senate trial is receiving tons of media coverage. It's going to affect how the people paying attention, including reporters and editors, think about impeachment and about Trump. It could have effects on Trump's approval ratings, which in turn could make it easier or harder to get things done. It might even, at the margins, have small effects on the 2020 elections. It could have effects, too, on Trump's professional reputation, which also could make it easier or harder for him to convince people to go along with things he wants. There are also a lot of specific precedents that will be set about how Senate impeachment trials work in the future. This trial, whatever the verdict, will either raise or lower the bar for what a future House of Representatives might do, and how a future Senate is likely to act. What happens in the trial will also affect the course of the presidency. Will future presidents take the threat of impeachment seriously? Or will they think of it as a small annoyance that isn't worth avoiding? Will they feel secure in resisting what has been up to now routine congressional oversight, or will they accept that bargaining with Congress is part of the rules of the game? Will they feel emboldened to ignore the law when it comes to appropriations, or will they accept that spending law is binding? All presidents take domestic politics into account in foreign affairs, and rightly so, but will future presidents remember this episode and feel licensed to conduct foreign affairs for their own narrow personal interest — or will they remember this episode and exercise caution?Or, to put it more or less as Schiff did: Will the U.S. wind up a stronger democracy after this trial — or a lesser one?The answer to all those questions depends in part on how the public comes to understand what happened in 2019-2020. And that understanding will be, in part, created by what happens in the Senate right now, how it is reported, and how the citizenry reacts to it. The public assessment will be affected by the performances of the House managers and the president's lawyers. So yes, the cynics are surely correct that senators aren't likely to be persuaded by Schiff, his colleagues or his trial adversaries when they finally vote on removing the president. But that doesn't mean that the conduct of the trial won't affect the rest of Trump's administration and the future of U.S. democracy. To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.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.
|
| Trump Weighs Plan to Expand Controversial Ban on Travel to U.S. Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:03 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is reviewing a Homeland Security Department recommendation that he expand one of the most controversial policies of his administration by banning people from an additional seven countries from traveling to the U.S.The department suggested the White House expand the travel restrictions to Tanzania, Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Sudan, according to a person familiar with the review who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.The administration's first travel ban, enacted soon after Trump took office, targeted countries with large Muslim populations, sparking widespread outrage from Democrats and immigration activists.The Supreme Court upheld a revised version of the ban in June 2018.An expanded ban would likely ignite new protests over what opponents earlier described as a "Muslim ban" because five of the countries on the new list have substantial Muslim populations. The White House is weighing the proposal ahead of November elections as Trump seeks to make immigration a focus of his campaign.Spokesmen for Homeland Security and the White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the specific possible additions. On Tuesday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley defended the travel ban as "profoundly successful in protecting our country and raising the security baseline around the world.""While there are no new announcements at this time, common sense and national security both dictate that if a country wants to fully participate in U.S. immigration programs, they should also comply with all security and counter-terrorism measures," Gidley said. "We do not want to import terrorism or any other national security threat into the United States."The first version of the ban triggered airport chaos and came after the president said repeatedly during the 2016 campaign that he wanted to bar all Muslims from entering the country. Judges quickly blocked that version, but subsequent changes made the policy more palatable to the courts. Trump has argued the ban on visas for some majority-Muslim countries is a necessary security measure.The additions to the list were prepared for the White House as part of a worldwide assessment the president mandated that the administration undertake every six months under his executive order mandating the travel ban.Countries will probably be given an opportunity to improve security measures such as biometrics, information-sharing and counterterrorism precautions to avoid ultimate inclusion on the list, the person said. The president hasn't specified whether he'll add all of the countries recommended by Homeland Security."We're adding a couple of countries to it," Trump told reporters this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We have to be safe. Our country has to be safe. You see what's going on in the world. Our country has to be safe. So we have a very strong travel ban, and we'll be adding a few countries to it."Already, visas from five Muslim-majority nations -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen -- as well as North Korea and some from Venezuela have been suspended, meaning about 150 million people can't enter the U.S.The administration removed Chad from the list, crediting the country's improvement in identity-management and information-sharing practices.The administration revised the policy two times before settling on a version that the Supreme Court upheld in a June 2018 ruling.A divided court rejected contentions that Trump targeted Muslims and gave him a legal and political victory on a controversy that helped define his presidency.To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, 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.
|
| Brexit Deal Clears U.K. Parliament, Ending Years of Deadlock Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:30 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal cleared its final hurdles in Parliament, bringing the crisis that paralyzed U.K. politics since the country voted to leave the European Union almost four years ago to a close.The passage of the law vindicates Johnson's gamble to call an election last month in which he asked voters to back his blueprint for leaving the bloc on Jan. 31. His 80-seat majority in the elected House of Commons meant he could sweep aside objections from pro-EU politicians in the upper chamber of Parliament, the Lords, and break the deadlock that cost his predecessor, Theresa May, her job last year."At times it felt like we would never cross the Brexit finish line, but we've done it. Now we can put the rancour and division of the past three years behind us," Johnson said, according to an emailed statement.Later Wednesday, members of the unelected House of Lords formally dropped their opposition and accepted the legislation as approved by the Commons. The bill will now go to Queen Elizabeth II who will sign it into law, putting Britain on track to leave the EU in nine days' time.The agreement with the EU will now need to be formally ratified by the European Parliament on Jan. 29, before the U.K. leaves the bloc at the end of the month. Britain will then enter a transition period, scheduled to last until the end of the year, during which it will continue to be bound by EU laws until it negotiates a new trade deal with the remaining 27 member states.Johnson is expected to sign the agreement in the coming days, and the European Council and Commission presidents may sign it Friday in Brussels, according to a U.K. government official.U.K., EU Draw Battle Lines as the Hard Part of Brexit Begins"We're in a very happy position in that we leave the EU in a position of absolute grace and uniformity," Johnson said as he answered questions from the public about the future negotiations with Brussels on Facebook. "We are in perfect alignment with our EU friends and partners."Looking ahead, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid acknowledged Johnson's Dec. 31 deadline for reaching a new trade deal with the EU was "tight.""Both sides recognize that it's a tight timetable, a lot needs to be put together in the time that we have, but it can be done," Javid said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "And it can be done for both goods, where we want to see free trade, zero tariffs, zero quotas -- but also on services."The House of Lords had tried to amend the Brexit legislation to enhance EU citizens' rights in Britain, allow judges -- rather than ministers -- to decide on the use of rulings by European Courts, and to ensure unaccompanied refugee children can join family in the U.K. All the measures were rejected by the Commons. Johnson's government rejected these changes and pushed the Lords to back down.(Adds Johnson comments from third paragraph.)\--With assistance from Lucy Meakin, Olivia Konotey-Ahulu, Ian Wishart and Jessica Shankleman.To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Edward EvansFor 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.
|
| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 22 Jan 2020 01:48 PM PST ![Editorial Roundup: US]( "Editorial Roundup: US") Senate Republicans on Tuesday laid the groundwork for a truncated trial of President Trump that would be a perversion of justice. Unless several senators changed their positions, votes to acquit Mr. Trump on the House's charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress could come as soon as next week without any testimony by witnesses or review of key documents.
|
| UN says at least 19 killed in tribal clashes in Abyei region Posted: 22 Jan 2020 01:16 PM PST ![UN says at least 19 killed in tribal clashes in Abyei region]( "UN says at least 19 killed in tribal clashes in Abyei region") At least 19 people were killed in an attack Wednesday in the disputed Abyei region on the Sudan-South Sudan border, a U.N. peacekeeping mission said. The mission, known as UNISFA, said in a statement that armed men allegedly from the Sudan-allied Misseriya attacked the Dinka village of Kolom, about 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) northwest of Abyei. UNISFA said the attack wounded at least two dozen others and that three children were reportedly missing.
|
| Wuhan goes on lockdown following coronavirus outbreak, but WHO isn't ready to declare global emergency Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:31 PM PST  Wuhan, China, is on lockdown following the outbreak of a coronavirus in the city. The Chinese government decided Wednesday that it was necessary to quarantine the city, which is home to more than 11 million, by shutting down intra-city public transportation. Outbound flights and trains will also be canceled for the time being as efforts to learn more about the virus and how it spreads continue. The illness is believed to have started in Wuhan and has spread to several other countries, including a reported case in the United States. Overall, there have been more than 500 confirmed cases and 17 deaths.Despite the preventative measures being taken in Wuhan, the World Health Organization said Wednesday that it wasn't ready to declare the outbreak a global emergency. That could very well still happen -- and soon -- but at the moment things apparently aren't clear enough for the United Nations agency to issue that designation. Tim O'Donnell> Here's why the World Health Organization delayed declaring the Chinese coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency pic.twitter.com/orzgpr7kRt> > -- QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) January 22, 2020More stories from theweek.com The White House is arguing the impeachment articles don't include allegations of a quid pro quo because the exact words don't appear Joe Biden won't testify in Trump's impeachment trial even it means John Bolton will Several senators left the chamber in the middle of Adam Schiff's impeachment remarks
|
| Moderate earthquake shakes Turkey, no casualties reported Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:30 PM PST ![Moderate earthquake shakes Turkey, no casualties reported]( "Moderate earthquake shakes Turkey, no casualties reported") A moderately strong earthquake shook buildings in western Turkey on Wednesday, causing a few derelict structures to collapse, but authorities said there were no immediate reports of any casualties. Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the 5.4-magnitude quake struck near the town of Akhisar, in Manisa province, at a depth of 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles). Manisa Gov. Ahmet Deniz told NTV that the tremor caused "five or six" abandoned or derelict structures to collapse in Akhisar.
|
| After China trade deal, Europe and U.K. next on Trump's to-do list Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:15 PM PST  U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to rip up international trade deals and rebalance America's global trade relationships. Three years into his presidency, he has done just that, using a slew of tariffs, threats, and bilateral talks to shake up relations with nearly every major U.S. trading partner. With a Phase 1 trade deal in hand with China, and a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) complete at home, Trump is now turning his attention to Europe, post-Brexit Britain, and India.
|
| 15 killed as fighting intensifies near Yemen’s capital Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:02 PM PST ![15 killed as fighting intensifies near Yemen's capital]( "15 killed as fighting intensifies near Yemen's capital") Fighting between Yemen's internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels in the rebel-held capital Wednesday left at least 12 fighters dead, including two senior commanders, officials and tribal leaders said. Among the dead in the fighting in Sanaa were a military brigadier and a rebel commander. The clashes wounded dozens of others and forced scores of families to flee, the officials and tribal leaders said.
|
| Fear and Confusion as Fighters Overran a U.S. Airfield Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:57 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- Armed with rifles and explosives, about a dozen al-Shabab fighters destroyed an American surveillance plane as it was taking off and ignited an hourslong gunfight this month on a sprawling military base in Kenya that houses U.S. troops. By the time al-Shabab was done, portions of the airfield were burning, and three Americans were dead.Surprised by the attack, U.S. commandos took around an hour to respond. Many of the local Kenyan forces, assigned to defend the base, hid in the grass, while other U.S. troops and support staff were corralled into tents, with little protection, to wait out the battle. It would require hours to evacuate one of the wounded to a military hospital in Djibouti, roughly 1,500 miles away.The brazen assault at Manda Bay, a sleepy seaside base near the Somali border, on Jan. 5, was largely overshadowed by the crisis with Iran after the killing of that country's most important general two days earlier and is only now drawing closer scrutiny from Congress and Pentagon officials.But the storming of an airfield used by the U.S. military so alarmed the Pentagon that it immediately sent about 100 troops from the 101st Airborne Division to establish security at the base. Army Green Berets from Germany were shuttled to Djibouti, the Pentagon's major hub in Africa, in case the entire base was in danger of being taken by al-Shabab, an East African terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida."The assault represented a serious security lapse given how much of a target the base was and its location near the border with Somalia," said Murithi Mutiga, the International Crisis Group's Horn of Africa project director, based in Nairobi, Kenya.Many details of the attack remain murky, and the military's Africa Command has released only scant particulars pending an investigation. But the deaths of the three Americans -- one Army soldier and two Pentagon contractors -- marked the largest number of U.S. military-related fatalities in Africa since four soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger in October 2017. The Kenya attack underscores the U.S. military's limits on the continent, where a lack of intelligence, along with Manda Bay's reputation as a quiet and unchallenged locale, allowed a lethal attack.The deaths also signify a grim expansion of the campaign waged by the United States against al-Shabab -- often confined to Somalia, but in this case spilling over into Kenya despite an escalating U.S. air campaign in the region. Kenya is a new addition to the list of countries where Americans have been killed in combat since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, joining Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Niger, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.The attack is raising new and complex questions about the enduring U.S. military mission on the continent, where more than 5,000 troops serve, especially as the Pentagon weighs the potential withdrawal of hundreds of forces from West Africa to better counter threats from Russia and China. A Pentagon proposal to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Africa drew sharp criticism last week from senior lawmakers of both parties, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close adviser to President Donald Trump.This article is based on interviews with a dozen U.S. military officials or other people who have been briefed on the attack. Several spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss aspects of a security failure that is now under investigation.Early on the morning of Jan. 5, Dustin Harrison, 47, and Bruce Triplett, 64, two experienced pilots and contractors with L3 Technologies, a Pentagon contractor that helps conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions around the world, were taxiing their Beechcraft King Air 350 on Manda Bay's tarmac. They throttled down their engines, according to one person familiar with the attack. The two men reported that they saw animals darting across the runway.They were wrong. The animals were in fact al-Shabab fighters who had infiltrated the base's outer perimeter -- a poorly defended fence line -- before heading to the base's airstrip. As the twin-propeller Beechcraft, loaded with sensors and video equipment for surveillance, began to taxi, al-Shabab fighters fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the plane, killing Harrison and Triplett. With the plane on fire, a third contractor, badly burned in the rear of the aircraft, crawled out to safety.The al-Shabab fighters were not done. In the ensuing chaos, they made quick work of a significant portion of the U.S. fleet of aircraft -- a mix of six surveillance aircraft and medical evacuation helicopters on the ground at the time. The al-Shabab fighters also destroyed a fuel storage area, rendering the airfield next to useless. The attack most likely cost the Pentagon millions of dollars in damages.Spc. Henry Mayfield Jr., 23, of the Army was in a nearby truck acting as an air traffic controller when he was killed in the gunfight, according to a person familiar with the incident. His colleague inside the truck, another American, escaped and hid in the grass to avoid the insurgents. He was found hours later.Manda Bay is at the southern edge of an archipelago of U.S. outposts used in the fight against al-Shabab in East Africa. It took about eight hours to fly the burned contractor to Djibouti for hospital-level care, according to the person familiar with the attack, underscoring a recurring vulnerability for U.S. personnel spread across the continent. Two U.S. service members were also wounded in the attack.While parts of the airfield burned and some Americans who were there returned fire, roughly a dozen members of a Marine Special Operations team from 3rd Marine Raider Battalion based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, led the U.S. counterattack, alongside several of the Kenyan Rangers they had been training and accompanying during their deployment. But since the team was at Camp Simba, a U.S. enclave roughly 1 mile from the airfield, the insurgents had ample time to disperse.At the center of the gunbattle is the risky dependence of U.S. forces on their local counterparts, especially when it comes to base security. The battle bore striking similarity to an attack in Afghanistan in March 2019 when Taliban fighters managed to slip onto a sprawling base in southern Helmand province with help from Afghan troops and quickly threatened a small U.S. Marine base inside the perimeter of the larger Afghan facility.At Manda Bay, where U.S. forces have a smaller presence, the troops rely largely on the Kenyans to protect the airfield. "Those forces are typically not as capable as U.S. forces and are easier for terrorist groups to infiltrate," said Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who served in Africa while an Army Green Beret.The performance of the Kenyan security forces during and after the battle frustrated U.S. officials. At one point, the Kenyans announced that they had captured six of the attackers, but they all turned out to be bystanders and were released.There are about 200 U.S. soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines, as well as about 100 Pentagon civilian employees and contractors, in Kenya helping train and assist local forces. A large majority of them work at Manda Bay, according to military officials. But there were not enough Americans to stand perimeter security on the airfield, one Defense Department official said.U.S. forces have used Manda Bay for years. Special Operations units -- including Green Berets, Navy SEALs and more recently, Marine Raiders -- have helped train and advise Kenyan Rangers there.The Kenyan Rangers, alongside their U.S. commando counterparts, often operate in the border region pursuing al-Shabab fighters. Surveillance aircraft, flying from the airstrip at Manda Bay, watch the border between Somalia and Kenya, a region of unforgiving terrain that has hindered ground operations. In recent months, the border missions against al-Shabab have dwindled, and military officials have sought to end the U.S. Special Operations presence at Manda Bay.Why the base was not better protected is unclear. Surveillance aircraft, much like those destroyed in the attack, are valuable assets, especially in Africa, where extremist groups seek to exploit the vast expanses and porous borders to avoid detection. Even to shuttle a single aircraft from one part of the continent to another often requires approval from a four-star general, and losing a surveillance aircraft, one Defense Department official said, means the loss of hundreds of hours of reconnaissance flights until it is replaced.Al-Shabab fighters have typically avoided U.S. outposts and the technological superiority of the U.S. military, instead attacking more exposed Kenyan and Somali troops in the hinterlands.But that may be changing. On Sept. 30, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of a military airfield in Bale Dogle, Somalia, injuring one U.S. service member.On Nov. 5, al-Shabab released a 52-minute video narrated by the group's leader, Abu Ubaidah, in which he called for attacks against Americans wherever they are, saying the American public is a legitimate target."The recent threats and attacks are likely in part a reaction to the U.S. air campaign against the group," said Tricia Bacon, a Somali specialist at American University in Washington and a former State Department counterterrorism analyst.The Pentagon carried out 63 drone strikes in Somalia last year -- almost all against al-Shabab militants, with a few against a branch of the Islamic State group. That compares with 47 strikes against al-Shabab in 2018. There have already been three strikes in Somalia this year. The air campaign has been shrouded in secrecy, and an investigation by Amnesty International last year reported on evidence that these airstrikes had killed or wounded more than two dozen civilians since 2017.Since March 2017, al-Shabab has launched close to 900 attacks on civilians and hundreds more against U.S., Somali and Kenyan troops, the Soufan Center, a research organization for global security issues in New York, said in an analysis last week. An Army Special Forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Alex Conrad, died from wounds he received during a firefight with al-Shabab fighters in June 2018 in Somalia.The attack in Kenya came about a week after an explosives-laden truck blew up at a busy intersection in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, killing 82 people. Al-Shabab also claimed responsibility for that attack.The group's strength has ebbed and flowed over the past 15 years, weathering a string of territorial losses, defections and the killing of several high-profile leaders. Even so, al-Shabab has proved remarkably resilient, even in the face of an intensified campaign of U.S. airstrikes against its fighters and facilities, the Soufan analysis said.It remains unclear how al-Shabab fighters made their way onto the Manda Bay base, whether by surprise or a vehicle packed with explosives. According to one U.S. official, the group likely had patiently watched the base and had selected their attack based on the Americans' well-established patterns. Investigators are looking at the possibility the attackers had help from Kenyan staff on the base, said one person briefed on the inquiry.U.S. officials said five al-Shabab fighters were killed. Several others fled, most likely slipping back across the border into Somalia, the officials said."This was designed for propaganda, to show they could strike American bases," said Matt Bryden, director of Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based think tank. "Their capability to strike in East Africa is growing."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
|
| Israel's Netanyahu apologizes for mocking rival's 'stutter' Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:55 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Wednesday for mocking his chief political opponent stumbling over words in interviews during a campaign rally. Netanyahu drew criticism from an Israeli stuttering organization and opposition politicians after imitating Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz during Tuesday's event. "Unlike the way things were presented by the media, my remarks were certainly not directed at people with any disability and if anyone was offended by my remarks I am very sorry for it," Netanyahu said in a statement.
|
| Trump: Travel ban expansion coming, nations aren't yet final Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:44 AM PST  President Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. would soon be imposing visa restrictions on more countries — though it's not clear yet how many nations will be affected by his expansion of the travel ban. Seven additional nations were listed in a draft of the proposed restrictions — but the countries were notified by Homeland Security officials that they could avoid being included if they make changes before the announcement is made, according to two administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations. The tentative list featured Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, according to the officials and a person familiar with the draft proposal.
|
| 'Unprecedented' locust swarm devastating several countries in Africa fueled by multiple weather factors Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:37 AM PST  Unusually heavy rain is being cited as a factor in one of the worst outbreaks of desert locusts in decades across parts of East Africa and posing what officials say is an "unprecedented" threat to crops in third world countries, according to a recent report issued by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO).The rare outbreak is destroying crops and pastures across eastern Ethiopia and neighboring areas of Somalia, parts of Sudan, Eritrea and northern Kenya as it risks spreading further due to the continuation of favorable ecological conditions for locust breeding until around June.The report states that South Sudan and Uganda are not currently affected, but they are at risk for the species to eventually arrive."This has become a situation of international dimensions that threatens the food security of the entire subregion. FAO is activating fast-track mechanisms that will allow us to move swiftly to support governments in mounting a collective campaign to deal with this crisis," FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in a statement earlier this week.Dongyu said control efforts are underway, but due to the scale and urgency of the threat, additional financial backing is needed from international donors to help authorities."Communities in Eastern Africa have already been impacted by extended droughts, which have eroded their capacities to grow food and make a living. We need to help them get back on their feet, once the locusts are gone," Dongyu said.The FAO says the devastating swarms potentially contain hundreds of millions of locusts and that the insects can travel distances of more than 90 miles in a single day. If left unchecked, the insect swarms could grow 500 times by June. In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, a Samburu man who works for a county disaster team identifying the location of the locusts, holds one on his hand near the village of Sissia, in Samburu county, Kenya. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi) It's been 25 years since people in Kenya and Ethiopia have seen swarms of this magnitude and 70 years since Kenya last encountered such an invasion of locusts.FAO officials warn that the locusts are rapidly heading toward Ethiopia's Rift Valley, known as the country's "breadbasket.""Unusually high rainfall in desert and savanna can definitely lead to blooms of rich vegetation that swarming insects like locusts will readily take advantage of," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.Some of the data sites AccuWeather meteorologists track suggest unusually high rainfall, which can create favorable breeding environments for the locusts, occurred on at least a few days in October to November."The climate across the affected areas [typically] varies from favorably moist, which supports forest or savanna, as well as crops in season, to desert, which is fit for limited grazing, as crops grow only where water is available," Andrews said, adding that the region hosts a rather diverse climate. In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, a Samburu boy uses a wooden stick to try to swat a swarm of desert locusts filling the air, as he herds his camel near the village of Sissia, in Samburu county, Kenya. The most serious outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world's most vulnerable countries, authorities say, with unusual climate conditions partly to blame. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi) Andrews said the excessive rainfall could be related to the Indian Ocean Dipole, which set a record-high value during 2019.The Indian Ocean Dipole, which is sometimes referred to as the "Indian Niño" because of its similarity to its Pacific equivalent, El Niño, and refers to the difference in sea-surface temperatures in opposite parts of the Indian Ocean."In a nutshell, the dipole is indicative of unusual sea-surface warmth in the western tropical Indian Ocean while the eastern tropical Indian Ocean has an overall temperature that is normal to below normal," Andrews said.According to Andrews, this dipole has been linked to unusual patterns of rainfall in other parts of the world, including in the Indian subcontinent, and it's one culprit behind Australia's severe drought and devastating fires.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPOne of the factors that worsened the situation was the heavy rain unleashed by deadly Cyclone Pawan in early December across Somalia."The already threatening situation was further exacerbated by limited operational capacities in Somalia and by heavy rains and floods from Cyclone Pawan that will allow at least one to two more generations of breeding, causing a substantial increase in locusts over the next six months," the FAO said in the report. In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, two Samburu men who work for a county disaster team identifying the location of the locusts, are surrounded by a swarm of desert locusts filling the air, near the village of Sissia, in Samburu county, Kenya. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi) "In South-West Asia, intensive control operations were in progress along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where numerous swarms continued to form," the FAO said.These swarms have been present in India, Iran and Pakistan since June 2019. Officials say recent rounds of heavy rain in Iran have allowed swarms to migrate to southern Iran to lay eggs, which could develop into a new swarm come springtime.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
|
| Bezos Tweets Picture of Khashoggi Memorial After Saudi Hacking Report Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:35 AM PST ![Bezos Tweets Picture of Khashoggi Memorial After Saudi Hacking Report]( "Bezos Tweets Picture of Khashoggi Memorial After Saudi Hacking Report") (Bloomberg) -- Jeff Bezos remembered slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with a simple tweet, hours after a United Nations panel accused the Saudi crown prince of possible involvement in hacking Bezos's phone.Bezos on Wednesday tweeted the hashtag Jamal, along with a photo of himself at a memorial service for Khashoggi held in Istanbul in October.Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident who was living in self-imposed exile in the U.S., was murdered in Istanbul in October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government. He had written pieces critical of the Saudi government for The Washington Post, which Bezos owns.Earlier on Wednesday, a UN panel accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of possible involvement in the hacking of Bezos's phone to "influence, if not silence" the newspaper's reporting on the kingdom.UN Panel Links Saudi Prince to Bezos Hack, Effort to Muzzle PostThe National Enquirer last year disclosed an extramarital affair between Bezos and a former television anchor in a series of reports that relied in part on intimate text messages sent by Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com Inc.(Updates with additional background.)To contact the reporter on this story: Erin McClam in New York at emcclam@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.net, Jim SilverFor 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.
|
| AP-NORC poll: Public doubts Senate trial will be revealing Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:20 AM PST  Americans are sharply divided along party lines about whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office, and they doubt the Senate impeachment trial will do anything to change their minds, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%. Linda Valenzuela, 46, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, leans Democrat and said she is certain that Trump acted unlawfully in pressuring Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate activities by former Vice President Joe Biden, a Trump political rival, and his son Hunter in the Eastern European nation.
|
| U.K.’s Javid Snubs Trump’s Trade Offer, Saying EU Deal Comes First Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:42 AM PST ![U.K.'s Javid Snubs Trump's Trade Offer, Saying EU Deal Comes First]( "U.K.'s Javid Snubs Trump's Trade Offer, Saying EU Deal Comes First") (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid risked a clash with President Trump's government after suggesting the U.S. will need to wait in line for a post-Brexit trade deal until Britain finishes negotiating one with the European Union.Appearing side by side in Davos, Switzerland, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Javid both said reaching a trade agreement between the two countries would be a priority once Britain leaves the EU at the end of the month. The difference was that Javid said a deal with the EU will take precedence over any accord with the U.S."Our first priority is of course getting the agreement with the EU," Javid told a finance panel at the World Economic Forum.That wasn't what his American counterpart wanted to hear. Mnuchin told the event that he was "a little disappointed" the U.S. wasn't getting top priority. "I thought we'd go first," he said. "They may be a little harder to deal with than us anyway.''Once the U.K. has left the European Union on Jan. 31, it will be free to try and make trade deals with other countries outside the bloc. Javid said that after conversations this week with his EU counterparts, there is "a strong belief on both sides" they can strike a deal for goods and services by the end of 2020.Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has said the EU-U.K. and U.S.-U.K. talks will be held in parallel. Later on Wednesday in London, a British official suggested Javid had gone rogue and said there were no plans to prioritize any one set of trade talks over another."From February 1 we are free to talk to any country which we like around the world," Johnson's spokesman James Slack said. "The EU has obviously said it's not going to be ready to talk to us until March 1." The U.K. plans to release a series of documents setting out its aims for trade deals with the EU, U.S. and other countries at the start of February.Javid was the only U.K. minister allowed to break Johnson's ban on attending the World Economic Forum. On Thursday the Chancellor will address British businesses at an annual lunch in the Swiss alpine resort and is likely to face questions on his warnings they'll need to adjust to new rules after Brexit because the U.K. won't align with European regulations.\--With assistance from Lucy Meakin.To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@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.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Canada matching donations to fund for Iran plane families Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:36 AM PST ![Canada matching donations to fund for Iran plane families]( "Canada matching donations to fund for Iran plane families") Canada's federal government said Wednesday it will match donations to a fund set up to help families of those who died in the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran this month. Parliamentary Secretary Omar Algabra said the government will match individual donations to the Canada Strong fund, up to a total of $1.5 million Canadian (US$1.5 million.) Algabra said $600,000 Canadian (US$457,000) has been raised so far. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau already announced his government would immediately give Canadian $25,000 (US$19,122) to the families of each of the 57 citizens and 29 permanent residents of Canada who died.
|
| AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false account of Ukraine episode Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:04 AM PST  President Donald Trump gave a false account Wednesday of some of the circumstances that got him impeached. As the Senate impeachment trial wrestled with the fate of his presidency, Trump offered distorted statements about how the episode developed. In a claim easily refuted by the calendar, but often repeated by him nonetheless, Trump said he only released a rough transcript of his phone call with Ukraine's president because a Democrat had misstated the content of the call.
|
| Daily Crunch: Saudis probably hacked Bezos' phone Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:47 AM PST  United Nations experts are calling for an investigation after a forensic report said Saudi officials "most likely" used a mobile hacking tool built by the NSO Group to hack into the phone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos . The report, carried out by FTI Consulting, said it was "highly probable" that the phone hack was triggered by a malicious video sent over WhatsApp to Bezos' phone.
|
| Russia's Putin remains secretive about his future role Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:41 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin remained tight-lipped about his future role Wednesday as he fast-tracks a set of constitutional changes widely seen as an attempt to maintain his dominance over the nation's political scene after his current term ends in 2024. Asked at a meeting with students if Russia could follow the example of Kazakhstan, where a longtime president stepped down last year but continued calling the shots by assuming another prominent position, Putin shrugged off the idea as unfit for Russia. "The emergence of a position above the presidency would mean a dual power, which is absolutely unacceptable for a country like Russia," Putin said.
|
| Macron grows angry with Israeli security during church visit Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:39 AM PST  French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday lost his temper with Israeli security agents during a visit to a French church in Jerusalem and angrily ordered one of them to leave the premises. The incident occurred during a spat between Israeli forces and Macron's own security detail as he entered the Church of St. Anne. The church, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is French state property and Macron did not want the Israeli guards leading him inside.
|
| US to impose visas restrictions for pregnant women Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:38 AM PST  The Trump administration is coming out Thursday with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting "birth tourism," in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted U.S. passport. Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the U.S. primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the U.S. for medical treatment, according to State Department guidance sent Wednesday and viewed by The Associated Press. The State Department planned to publicize the rules Thursday, according to two officials with knowledge of the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
|
| Watchdog files FEC complaint against pro-Sanders nonprofit Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:31 AM PST  The watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that Our Revolution, a political nonprofit organization founded by Bernie Sanders, violated campaign finance law by accepting donations in excess of federal limits while boosting his White House ambitions. Spokesman Paco Fabian called the complaint "meritless" and "legally flawed." Sanders' campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The group has paid for some social media ads backing Sanders' campaign and is working to turn out voters who will support the senator in the Democratic presidential primary.
|
| DAVOS-Pakistan's Khan calls for U.N. action on India dispute Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:19 AM PST  Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan called on Wednesday for the United Nations to help mediate between nuclear armed India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir. "This is a potential flashpoint," Khan said during a media briefing at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding that it was time for the "international institutions ... specifically set up to stop this" to "come into action". The Indian government in August revoked the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, splitting it into two federal territories in a bid to integrate it fully with India and to rein in militancy.
|
| Crime required for impeachment? Not so, say legal experts Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:10 AM PST  President Donald Trump's defense relies in part on arguments made in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson more than 150 years ago: that impeachment requires a crime. A lawyer for Johnson argued in his opening statement to the Senate that Johnson could not be removed from office because he was not guilty of a crime. One of Trump's lawyers, Alan Dershowitz says that same argument — that impeachment requires "criminal-like conduct" — will be central to the constitutional defense he will make on the president's behalf.
|
| Trump meets Iraqi counterpart, first since Soleimani strike Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:03 AM PST  U.S. President Donald Trump hinted that sanctions on Iraq were still a possibility in a bilateral meeting with Iraq's president Wednesday, the first since a U.S. drone strike on Iraqi soil killed a top Iranian general, straining Washington-Baghdad ties. Iraq's President Barham Saleh met with Trump on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland amid threats from Iran-backed militia groups promising to exact revenge should he sit down with the American president. It was the first high-level meeting since the Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near Baghdad's airport.
|
| Friends of Zion Present Award to Vladimir Putin Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:02 AM PST  Mike Evans, on behalf of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center, announced on Wednesday, January 22nd that he will be bestowing the "Friends of Zion Award" to Russian President Vladimir Putin and on behalf of the Russian people, who saved a multitude of Jews during World War II.
|
| Trump downplays brain injuries suffered by US troops in Iran missile strike Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:53 AM PST  'I heard they had headaches … but it's not very serious,' Trump said after 11 service members were treated for concussion symptomsDonald Trump has downplayed the brain injuries suffered by US personnel in Iran's missile attacks on bases where they were stationed earlier this month, as the military announced additional troops were being flown from Iraq for treatment for possible injuries and that more may follow.Though the US president initially said no US troops were harmed in the 8 January attack on two Iraqi bases housing them, the Pentagon announced last week that 11 service members had been flown to medical hospitals in Germany and Kuwait to be "treated for concussion symptoms from the blast".Asked about the discrepancy on Wednesday, Trump said he learned about the injuries "numerous days later"."I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say and I can report it is not very serious," he told a news conference in Davos, Switzerland. "I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen. I've seen people with no legs and no arms."US officials separately announced on Wednesday that several more troops had been "identified as having potential injuries" and were being transported to Germany for further diagnosis and treatment."Given the nature of injuries already noted, it is possible additional injuries may be identified in the future," US central command spokesman Bill Urban said.After the attacks on the Ein al-Asad base and another site in Iraqi Kurdistan, Trump said that initial casualty assessments were "so far, so good".He cited the apparent lack of casualties and minimal damage in a speech the following morning that dismissed the strikes, said Iran appeared to be standing down, and indicated the US would also do so."I'm pleased to inform you the American people should be extremely grateful and happy," Trump said. "No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties."Iranian state media has claimed that 80 American personnel were killed or injured and secretly flown from the base before the sun rose on Wednesday morning. Military leaders in the country have said their intention was not to kill US troops but to send a message.Iraqi's caretaker prime minister has said he was given advance notice of the attacks and passed it on to the US. American commanders at Ein al-Asad have also said they received several hours' notice of the strikes, which were carried out in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani five days before.
|
| Britain's Brexit bill passes final hurdle in Parliament Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:47 AM PST  Britain's Brexit bill passed its final hurdle in Parliament on Wednesday after the House of Lords abandoned attempts to amend it, leaving the U.K. on course to leave the European Union next week. The bill was approved by Parliament's upper chamber after the House of Commons overturned changes to the government's flagship Brexit bill made a day earlier by the unelected House of Lords. Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, more than three and a half years after voters opted for Brexit in a June 2016 referendum, and after many rounds of political wrangling.
|
| Democrats appeal for GOP help to convict 'corrupt' Trump Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:38 AM PST  Democrats have 24 hours over three days to prosecute the charges against Trump, trying to win over not just fidgety senators sitting silently in the chamber but an American public, deeply divided over the president and his impeachment in an election year. Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, outlined what the Democrats contend was the president's "corrupt scheme" to abuse his presidential power and then obstruct Congress' investigation. "Over the coming days, we will present to you—and to the American people—the extensive evidence collected during the House's impeachment inquiry into the president's abuse of power," said Schiff standing before the Senate.
|
| Red Line Rumble: Iran Tested the Boundaries of the Trump Administration and Got Burned Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:23 AM PST  The Trump administration's long-standing red line over the killing of U.S. personnel was bound to be tested. For every occasion that it suffered no kinetic response, Iran grew increasingly brazen.
|
| Trump says he doesn't think injuries soldiers suffered in Iranian strike are 'serious' Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:21 AM PST  President Trump on Wednesday downplayed the injuries suffered by U.S. soldiers following retaliatory Iranian missile strikes on a military base in Iraq earlier this month.Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump was asked why he has repeatedly said no Americans were hurt in the strikes despite reports that 11 U.S. service members were airlifted for medical reasons. The president said he was told the soldiers had "headaches" and he doesn't consider the injuries to be as serious as others he's seen in the past, such as the loss of limbs.> When asked about the 11 U.S. servicemen injured in the Iran airstrikes, President Trump told @weijia he didn't "consider them serious injuries relative to other injuries I've seen." https://t.co/anmIdCHO6a pic.twitter.com/boSjvDujCS> > -- CBS News (@CBSNews) January 22, 2020The comment quickly stirred up some backlash -- CNN's Chris Cillizza called Trump's description of the injuries "problematic" considering some of the patients are still being evaluated. He also brought up Trump's personal history which includes five deferments from serving in the Vietnam War, four of which were the result of bone spurs in his heels.The president was also chastised by Mark Hertling, a retired Army officer who served as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe and the Seventh Army. Hertling said that blasts like the one in Iraq can result in various long-term effects, some of them quite severe. Trump, he said, was "dangerously wrong" in his dismissal. > No longer an "active duty commander," I did spend 3+ yrs commanding large organizations & was personally subjected to multiple IED blasts. These can be serious injuries, they can contribute to death, neurological and psych disorders...and POTUS comment is dangerously wrong. https://t.co/dfVyrwj4Qt> > -- Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) January 22, 2020More stories from theweek.com The White House is arguing the impeachment articles don't include allegations of a quid pro quo because the exact words don't appear Joe Biden won't testify in Trump's impeachment trial even it means John Bolton will Several senators left the chamber in the middle of Adam Schiff's impeachment remarks
|
| France's Macron cool to Israeli request to criticize ICC Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:09 AM PST  French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday gave a lukewarm reception to an Israeli request to criticize the International Criminal Court, saying he would study the matter. Macron's response dealt a setback to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes for a strong backlash against the ICC by world leaders gathering in Jerusalem for a memorial service marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. The court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said last month that there was a "reasonable basis" to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in Gaza as well as settlement construction in the West Bank.
|
| Soleimani killing adds dangerous new dimension to Iraq unrest Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:43 AM PST ![Soleimani killing adds dangerous new dimension to Iraq unrest]( "Soleimani killing adds dangerous new dimension to Iraq unrest") Iranian-backed Shi'ite factions have exhorted Iraqis to turn out for a "million-strong" march on Friday aimed at whipping up anti-American sentiment as the United States' struggle with Iran plays out on the streets of Baghdad. It is likely to end up at the gates of the U.S. Embassy, the seat of U.S. power in Iraq and the scene of violent clashes last month when militia supporters tried to storm the compound. The U.S. killing of Iranian military mastermind General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad this month has given renewed impetus to Iran's allies in Iraq.
|
| Why A U.S. Military Base in Iraqi Kurdistan is a Bad Idea Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:22 AM PST  President Donald Trump met in Davos, Switzerland, with both Iraqi Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani and Iraqi President Barham Salih. Looming large in their talks was Iraq's political future, Iran, and U.S. alliances in the region. Behind-the-scenes, much of the talk appears to center on a Trump administration push to forgo any more investment in Iraq, and to instead double down militarily in Iraqi Kurdistan. It's a bad idea.
|
| UN calls for investigation into alleged Saudi hacking of Jeff Bezos Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:17 AM PST  The United Nations is joining the chorus of those concerned about allegations Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in hacking Jeff Bezos' phone. UN experts have issued a statement calling for an "immediate investigation" into claims the Crown Prince's account was used for a WhatsApp hack as well as his reported "continuous, multi-year, direct and personal" role in efforts to target opponents. These allegations are particularly "relevant" in light of looks into the Saudi royal's role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the UN experts said.
|
| UN calls for investigation after Saudis linked to Bezos phone hack Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:12 AM PST  United Nations experts are calling for an investigation after a forensic report said Saudi officials "most likely" used a mobile hacking tool, such as one built by the NSO Group, to hack into the phone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Remarks made by U.N. human rights experts on Wednesday said mobile spyware was likely used to exfiltrate gigabytes of data from Bezos' phone in May 2018, about six months after the Saudi government first obtained the spyware. It comes a day after news emerged, citing a forensics report commissioned to examine the Amazon founder's phone, that the malware was delivered from a number belonging to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
|
| President Trump minimizes concussion-like injuries in Iraq attack as merely 'headaches' Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:11 AM PST  President Trump minimizes concussion-like injuries in Iraq attack as merely 'headaches' originally appeared on abcnews.go.comPresident Donald Trump appeared to brush off the traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and concussion-like injuries sustained by U.S. service members after Iran's missile strike on a military base in Iraq, saying he did not consider them to be "very serious injuries.""I heard that they had headaches. And a couple of other things," Trump said Wednesday at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland. "But I would say and I can report it is not very serious. ...
|
| DC claims inaugural committee spending enriched Trump family Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:10 AM PST  Donald Trump's inaugural committee spent more than $1 million to book a ballroom at the Trump International Hotel in the nation's capital as part of a scheme to "grossly overpay" for party space and enrich the president's own family in the process, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The District of Columbia's attorney general, Karl Racine, said the committee misused nonprofit funds and coordinated with the hotel's management and members of the Trump family to arrange the events.
|
| US bars Iranian investors from certain types of visas Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:07 AM PST ![US bars Iranian investors from certain types of visas]( "US bars Iranian investors from certain types of visas") The Trump administration is barring Iranian investors and business people from entering or staying in the United States on certain types of visas. In new regulations published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said Iranians and their families are no longer eligible to apply for or extend what are known as E-1 and E-2 visas. The ban will take effect on Thursday, according to the notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
|
| Biden and Sanders' rift could define closing days in Iowa Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:06 AM PST  The rivalry between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders is deepening as the Democratic presidential candidates are increasingly at loggerheads over their support of Social Security, signaling a battle ahead that could last well beyond the Iowa caucuses. Sanders, a Vermont senator, has accused Biden of advocating for budget deals as a senator from Delaware that would have curtailed entitlement spending over time. During his decades on Capitol Hill, Biden supported a balanced budget constitutional amendment, but he says he would not have "cut" Social Security benefits as part of the deals.
|
| U.S. officials were reportedly frustrated by Kenyan security forces after clash with al-Shabab that killed 3 Americans Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:05 AM PST  An attack on a U.S. military base in Kenya by al-Shabab fighters that killed three Americans earlier this month mostly flew under the radar amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran. But it's now raising questions about the effectiveness of the U.S. military's presence on the African continent, The New York Times reports.There's still a lot that's unclear about al-Shabab's breach of the base, and the military's Africa Command has remained tight-lipped in the aftermath. Nobody is sure why the base — which is home to valuable surveillance aircraft — wasn't better protected, and there's also been some criticism of the Kenyan security forces who are being trained by the deployed U.S. troops.At the Manda Bay base, the Kenyan forces are relied upon heavily to protect the airfield since there aren't enough American forces to stand perimeter security, a Defense Department official told the Times. But their performance during the skirmish with al-Shabab reportedly frustrated American officials. For example, the Kenyan forces announced they captured six of the attackers, all of whom were released after it turned out they were bystanders.Some have taken their speculation a bit further. One person briefed on an inquiry into the attack told the Times that investigators are looking into the possibility that the al-Shabab fighters received aid from Kenyan staff on the base, although one American official said the attackers likely made their move after patiently observing the routines of American soldiers. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The White House is arguing the impeachment articles don't include allegations of a quid pro quo because the exact words don't appear Joe Biden won't testify in Trump's impeachment trial even it means John Bolton will Several senators left the chamber in the middle of Adam Schiff's impeachment remarks
|
| Bezos Hack Rekindles Fears About Saudi Crown Prince Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:01 AM PST ![Bezos Hack Rekindles Fears About Saudi Crown Prince]( "Bezos Hack Rekindles Fears About Saudi Crown Prince") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The most astonishing revelation in reports about the hacking of Jeff Bezos's cellphone is that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have played a direct, personal role. Bloomberg News reports that two people familiar with the breach say Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler, known as MBS, started the process by sending the Amazon.com Inc. chief a WhatsApp message containing hidden malware, which gave the Saudis access to the billionaire's phone.More damning still, independent United Nations experts say they have information suggesting MBS's involvement in the hack. "The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of the Crown Prince in surveillance of Mr. Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, The Washington Post's reporting on Saudi Arabia," wrote independent experts Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, in a statement Wednesday.How the prince responds will reveal whether he has learned any lessons from the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and its fallout.The message to Bezos preceded the grisly murder of the journalist, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, by five months. The UN investigation into the killing said MBS "has a responsibility in relationship to the killing" and the CIA believes he gave the order. The Saudi government denies this, and went through a form of judicial proceedings to affix blame on people it claims were involved.This saga has done little to dispel the cloud over MBS's reputation. As I wrote on the anniversary of the murder, the ghost of Khashoggi haunts the prince's every step. It even attended, Banquo-like, the banquet for bankers that was the Aramco IPO.The story about the hacking of the Washington Post's owner has the potential to attract as much attention as the killing of the newspaper's columnist.The allegation that the prince was personally involved is especially damaging, and will lower even further his international standing. In the U.S., it will harden the resolve of many in Congress to hold MBS to account for the murder, despite President Trump's best efforts to shield him.It won't end there. That the target was one of the world's richest men will invite closer scrutiny of other incidents involving less prominent figures — such as the reported hacking of phones belonging to Saudi dissidents, threats against other critics, and the charge that Twitter employees spied for the kingdom. The first response from the Saudis was true to form. The Saudi embassy in Washington has characterized the reports of the Bezos hack as "absurd," reprising the posture it adopted in dismissing first reports that Khashoggi was murdered on orders from Riyadh.The wiser course would be to allow a transparent investigation into the hack with a broader mandate than the UN probe — to find out who ordered it as well as who executed it. After the opaque process surrounding the Khashoggi killing, any investigation by Saudi authorities will inevitably give the impression of a cover-up. The best way to avert that reasonable suspicion would be to allow international supervision of the process.If such a probe concludes that the first breach of Bezos's phone came from MBS's WhatsApp message, then the prince must make a clear breast of it: a real mea culpa, and not the caveat-laden acknowledgment he belatedly allowed in the Khashoggi affair. Better still, he should forswear the use of such tactics against critics.MBS's admirers and defenders often point out that the prince has a long reign ahead of him: He could be king for 50 years. That era will go easier without more ghosts and scandals dogging him.To contact the author of this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@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.Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.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.
|
