| Russia, South Africa object to draft UN resolution on Libya Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:30 PM PST  A U.N. resolution that would endorse a plan to restore peace to Libya and condemn the recent increase in violence faced opposition Wednesday from Russia and South Africa. The two countries raised objections to the British-drafted Security Council resolution, which backs the 55-point road map to end the war in Libya that was approved by leaders of 12 world powers and other key countries in Berlin on Jan. 19. Belgium's U.N. ambassador, Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, the current council president, told reporters after brief closed council consultations on the draft resolution that "efforts are continuing" to reach agreement.
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| Is North Korea Considering a New ICBM Test? U.S. Spy Planes Are Watching. Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:24 PM PST  Flight-trackers spotted two U.S. military surveillance planes over the Korean Peninsula in early February 2020, fueling speculation that the Pentagon is expecting North Korea soon to test a new strategic weapon.
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| U.K. Seeks Early Deal With Australia to Boost Post-Brexit Trade Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:01 PM PST ![U.K. Seeks Early Deal With Australia to Boost Post-Brexit Trade]( "U.K. Seeks Early Deal With Australia to Boost Post-Brexit Trade") (Bloomberg) -- For a fresh perspective on the stories that matter for Australian business and politics, sign up for our new weekly newsletter.The U.K. will pursue an "early trade deal" with Australia as Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks to deliver on his promise of a boost to the country's fortunes after it leaves the European Union."Australia is a natural partner and we are ready to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal," U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in an emailed statement ahead of his arrival in Canberra on Thursday. "The scope for win-win is huge." Having finally divorced from the U.K.'s largest trading partner five days ago, Johnson's government is under pressure to show it has options beyond the EU, especially as the two sides have already clashed over their future relationship. In a speech on Monday, the prime minister said he is willing to walk away without a trade deal when the Brexit transition period expires at the end of the year.But the risk for Johnson is that trade negotiations with other countries the U.K. is prioritizing, including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Japan, will drag on too long. In that scenario, Brexit could quickly start to look like a failure.Raab will meet his counterpart Marise Payne as he tries to kick-start talks for an agreement to increase trade between the two countries, which was worth 18.3 billion pounds ($23.8 billion) last year, the U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement. Raab will also visit Japan, Singapore and Malaysia on his tour."Following the U.K.'s departure from the EU, we have the chance to broaden our horizons to embrace the huge opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region including with Australia," Raab said.To contact the reporter on this story: Olivia Konotey-Ahulu in London at okonoteyahul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Romney impeachment vote heartens some, angers others in Utah Posted: 05 Feb 2020 03:28 PM PST  Even though Mitt Romney's status as one of few Republicans willing to publicly criticize President Donald Trump is well known is his adopted home state, his unequivocal speech before voting yes on impeachment Wednesday caught many in Utah by surprise. Republicans in the state are unusually divided on the president, so while some were heartened to see Romney cast what he described as an agonizing vote dictated by his conscience, Trump supporters were left angry and frustrated. "There will be ramifications," said Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.
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| Merkel’s Party Just Broke the Ultimate Taboo in German Politics Posted: 05 Feb 2020 02:35 PM PST ![Merkel's Party Just Broke the Ultimate Taboo in German Politics]( "Merkel's Party Just Broke the Ultimate Taboo in German Politics") (Bloomberg) -- When Chancellor Angela Merkel's embattled heir left Berlin on Wednesday, she looked like she might catch a break from her domestic woes at a routine conference in the European Parliament. By the time Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer landed in Strasbourg, she was facing a scarcely believable crisis: an eastern branch of her party had thrown its lot in with the far right.Across Europe, the center-right allies of Kramp-Karrenbauer's Christian Democratic Union are wrestling with how to deal with the rising support for extremists. But in Germany, of course, that dilemma carries special weight, so a state CDU chapter's decision to line up alongside the Alternative for Germany for the first time ever sent shockwaves through the country."CDU lawmakers in Thuringia willingly accepted that their votes could elect a state premier supported by Nazis," Kramp-Karrenbauer's right hand man Paul Zemiak said in a televised statement.The ballot lays bare the rifts in Europe's central nation as Kramp-Karrenbauer struggles to keep the CDU in check and her officials in the former communist east battle to stop angry voters abandoning them for the AfD.At a moment when traditional U.S. support is in doubt, its economic model is in question and Merkel herself is preparing to step down next year, the last thing Germany needs is a breakthrough for the kind of right-wing populism that capitalized on anti-immigration sentiment. It was the refugee crisis of 2015 that fatally tested Merkel's grip on power and gave the AfD an opening."Today's decision divides our whole country," Zemiak said as street protests erupted in several cities, including outside the CDU's Berlin headquarters.For Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, it's another blow to her authority at the head of a party she hopes to lead into the next election. She had categorically ruled out working with the AfD in Thuringia. But her local party leader Mike Mohring went ahead and did it anyway.Fourteen months after taking the reins of the CDU, AKK has failed to get traction in opinion polls after a series of gaffes and misjudged jokes. Last year she faced a leadership struggle. The events in Thuringia, one of Germany's lesser known states, reinforce the sense of a party that is out of control.Indeed, even after landing in Strasbourg, AKK was unable to even get Mohring on the phone, according to a person with knowledge of the episode who asked not to be identified.Finally, after a tense conversation, the chairwoman dispatched Zemiak, her general secretary, to make his statement in Berlin, in which he called for the government in Thuringia to be dissolved and a new election to held. AKK later echoed part of the message but indicated no disciplinary action.AfD AmbushThe drama began in the state capital of Erfurt, with Bodo Ramelow of the anti-capitalist Left party set to claim a second term at the head of a minority government. On the third vote, the Free Democrats unexpectedly put forward Thomas Kemmerich as their candidate for the premiership.CDU members backed him.That's when the AfD, which has surged on opposition to Merkel's migration policy, dropped its own nominee -- an unknown village mayor-- to back Kemmerich, handing the premiership to the Free Democrat and shocking Ramelow's alliance.Mohring said in Erfurt that there would be a "clear separation" from the AfD, but few were convinced by his arguments."What happened today in Thuringia is unique in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany," said Kevin Kuehnert, deputy chair of Merkel's coalition partner the SPD, who joined the demonstrators outside CDU HQ. "What happened today, must be undone."Green party co-leader Robert Habeck, who the CDU may need to govern again in 2021, said the party had been warned but decided for a "deliberate pact with right-wing extremists.""If an election of a state premier isn't a cooperation with the AfD, then what is?" Habeck said.And Merkel? She's been staying out of domestic politics since she handed the party leadership over to AKK in 2018. On Wednesday, as the storm broke over the CDU, she was far away, on her own government plane, beginning a three-day trip to South Africa and Angola.To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Impeachment done, Pelosi unburdens herself about Trump Posted: 05 Feb 2020 01:37 PM PST  President Donald Trump was gone, the House lights were dimming, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looked up to her friends and family in the gallery overhead. The moment showcased Pelosi's sharper, less-restrained approach to the nation's 45th president at the bitter end of the impeachment saga she led.
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| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 05 Feb 2020 01:36 PM PST ![Editorial Roundup: US]( "Editorial Roundup: US") House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's act of rebellion during President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night came from her sense of political savvy. Fred Guttenberg's act of rebellion came from the heart, a heart in pain, a heart irrevocably broken.
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| Far-right backing for regional politician shocks Germany Posted: 05 Feb 2020 01:32 PM PST  The small state of Thuringia broke a German political taboo Wednesday after a candidate for the regional premiership was heaved into office with help from the far right for the first time, sending shockwaves to Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU party immediately called for fresh regional elections as a way out of the crisis, a call echoed by other mainstream parties. Thomas Kemmerich, a politician from the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), was elected as state premier after lawmakers from the far-right AfD gave him their backing.
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| Donald Trump survived impeachment. Will American democracy? Posted: 05 Feb 2020 01:16 PM PST  The verdict is in. President Trump has been acquitted of the Articles of Impeachment stemming from the Ukraine scandal. Notice I do not say that he has been "found innocent." That would be a lie.It will take a while to sort through the fallout from this impeachment process. The verdict was seemingly inevitable — the Republican-controlled Senate was never going to vote to oust Trump — but the conclusion is still disappointing. It seems possible that American democracy has taken a dark turn from which it cannot recover.One conclusion is possible to reach, though. The Founders failed us.They gave us the Electoral College, which was designed to keep demagogues and rapscallions out of the Oval Office. Instead, it ensured Trump's election. They gave us impeachment, which was designed to oust leaders who had abused their power. Instead, we ended up with a 67-vote standard that can probably never be met. They promised us checks and balances. We now have a president as unfettered, as free from accountability, as any in history.I don't want to hear any more about the wisdom of the Founders. They created a government that cannot rid the body politic of a poison like Trump. They promised their design accounted for the fact that human beings are not angels. "You must first enable the government to control the governed," James Madison wrote in Federalist 51, "and the next place, oblige it to control itself." Those controls, if they ever existed, are now officially worthless. President Trump is not a man to accept restraints on his power, nor to be chastened by a not-so-near miss. (Senator Susan Collins' (R-Maine) assertion that Trump had learned a "big lesson" was absurd, and immediately disproved by the president.) Acquittal means he is now free to use the power of the United States government to undermine his rivals and, perhaps, to ensure his re-election to the Oval Office. Can anybody doubt he will seize such opportunities when and if they present themselves?All it takes to undermine democracy, it turns out, is one man audacious enough to step across the lines — legal and otherwise — with no apparent sense of shame or public virtue. The Constitution, it turns out, was a house of cards the whole time. In retrospect, it is amazing that it lasted as long as it has.Can it be said to be functional any longer? The Constitution gives Congress the power to make war; this president — and presidents of both parties before him, admittedly — has reserved that power for himself, shrugging off legislative prerogatives to attack Iran. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse; this president ignores that rule in order to fund a wall on the Southern border, and to pressure foreign countries to investigate his rivals. The presidential oath of office requires the White House occupant to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution; it is not at all clear that Trump understands what the document entails.It is true that Trump has not gone to the excesses of Abraham Lincoln, who suspended habeas corpus, nor FDR, who put Japanese-Americans in prison camps. But it is also true that we have not seen Trump observe restraint when he believes disregarding constitutional niceties suits him. There is no reason to believe that the situation will improve in the post-impeachment era.Our Constitution is battered, our democracy injured. What makes Trump's acquittal even more galling, though, is that Republican senators have decided to add insult to that injury."Ultimately, voters themselves can hold the president accountable in an election, including the one just nine months from now," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote in explaining his vote."The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did," added Sen Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). "I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday."What rot.Let's do the math here. President Trump tried to use his official power to undermine a rival — Joe Biden — and thus cheat his way to re-election this year. Yet Republicans like Rubio and Alexander suggest the election is the best way to hold Trump accountable. That's like giving John Dillinger a job as a security guard at the local bank and hoping for the best. Given the GOP's anti-voter efforts of the last decade, that may well be by design.And yet, in this moment, there is one small reason to have hope. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) voted to convict the president. He did so knowing he will take tremendous abuse from the president and from most of the party he led as recently as 2012. Democrats will not be able to rebuild this country's institutions on their own; at some point, they will have to be joined by conservatives of conscience. That will take time, however, if it happens at all. If we have learned anything during the Trump administration, it is that you cannot be too pessimistic about what is likely to happen next. The attempt to impeach President Trump is now finished. The question remains: Did American democracy die today, too?Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Trump just won the Iowa Democratic caucuses Should financial markets be freaked out by coronavirus? America is doing so much better than you think
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| Buttigieg clings to narrow lead as Iowa results trickle in Posted: 05 Feb 2020 12:56 PM PST  Pete Buttigieg clung to a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in a new batch of vote totals released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday, two days after the state hosted its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. Buttigieg led Sanders by 1.3 percentage points in state delegate equivalents. Much of the political world has already shifted its attention to next-up New Hampshire, which holds the first primary election in the Democrats' 2020 nomination fight on Tuesday.
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| Proposed UN resolution would reject US Mideast peace plan Posted: 05 Feb 2020 12:41 PM PST ![Proposed UN resolution would reject US Mideast peace plan]( "Proposed UN resolution would reject US Mideast peace plan") Palestinian supporters have circulated a draft U.N. resolution that would reject the recently launched U.S. plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it violates international law and Security Council demands for a two-state solution based on borders before the 1967 Mideast war. The resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, could be put to a vote on Feb. 11 when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the Security Council and deliver his government's objections to the Israeli-backed U.S. peace plan. If a vote is held, the resolution is virtually certain to be vetoed by the United States.
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| Trump aide ties Israeli settlements to rising anti-Semitism Posted: 05 Feb 2020 11:44 AM PST  President Donald Trump's national security adviser warned Palestinians on Wednesday that Israeli settlements will continue to expand because rising anti-Semitism around the world means more Jews will immigrate to Israel. Addressing many hot-button global issues in a speech and discussion with foreign diplomats to the United States, Robert O'Brien also said the president hoped to go to Beijing to talk to the Chinese about a three-way nuclear arms control pact with the U.S. and Russia. O'Brien defended Trump's Mideast peace plan, which was embraced by Israel but rejected by the Palestinians.
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| Iraqi officials: At least 8 shot dead in southern Iraq Posted: 05 Feb 2020 11:42 AM PST  At least eight anti-government protesters were shot dead and 52 were wounded in clashes with followers of a radical Shiite cleric in southern Iraq on Wednesday, Iraqi medical officials and activists said. The violence comes as new divisions have emerged among protesters and supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who initially threw his weight behind the uprising.
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| Two Experts Make the Case Why New U.S. Weapon Strengthens Nuclear Deterrence of Russia Posted: 05 Feb 2020 11:29 AM PST  The best way to protect American interests and deter Moscow's use of low-yield nuclear weapons is to make clear to Putin that Washington has appropriate means to respond. That is exactly what the dual deployment of the low-yield SLBM warhead and SLCM-N would provide.
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| Judge strips terrorist of citizenship at government request Posted: 05 Feb 2020 11:23 AM PST ![Judge strips terrorist of citizenship at government request]( "Judge strips terrorist of citizenship at government request") A federal judge has stripped a terrorist of his naturalized U.S. citizenship, siding with the government in the case of a Pakistan-born man convicted more than 15 years ago of plotting to destroy New York's Brooklyn Bridge. Defendant Iyman Faris, once a truck driver in Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced in 2003 for aiding and abetting al-Qaida by scoping out the bridge as part of a plot to cut through cables that support it. Faris met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and worked with Sept. 11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, although some critics questioned how realistic the plot was, given post-Sept. 11 security in New York.
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| Nancy Pelosi’s Impeachment Pin Is Back Posted: 05 Feb 2020 10:58 AM PST  Update: Last night's State of the Union Address had its fair share of viral moments. Democratic women arrived clad in all-white as an act of defiance, Donald Trump's speech provided enough fake news to keep the media frenzy going for the remainder of his term, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pulled the move of the decade by tearing up her copy of the President's speech on live television. But while it was a big night all around, we couldn't help but focus on something that appeared much smaller: Nancy Pelosi's Mace of the Republic pin. We first noticed Pelosi wearing the pin two months ago, when it was pinned to the front of the all-black suit that she wore to vote on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. It's fitting, then, that the meaningful pin would once again make an appearance for last night's occasion, an event that took place just one night before the Senate votes on those same articles, likely acquitting the President of both. The Mace of the Republic is one of the oldest symbols of the Republic and represents the order and authority of the House of Representatives. It's safe to assume that Pelosi wore the pin to remind everyone of the important role that she plays in restoring order to the United States government. This time, Pelosi's replica of the Mace of the Republic was seen pinned to her monochrome white suit. Meanwhile, other Democratic women wore green Equal Rights Amendment pins to show their support for the House vote coming later this month, PBS reports.This story was originally published on December 19, 2019.On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of two articles of impeachment, making Donald Trump the third impeached president in the history of the United States. And during the proceedings, it would appear that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may have been trolling Trump with her Mace of the Republic pin, one of the oldest symbols of the American government.The pin is a smaller version of the ceremonial staff, a bundle of metal rods that represents authority and solidarity, and rests by the speaker's desk when the House is in session. Historically, it's used to restore order in the chamber. The actual staff has been a part of many significant events in this country's history. But to us, it looks like Pelosi is wearing the nail that she intends to hammer into Trump's presidency, ending it. > Pelosi making a statement with her outfit. > > She's dressed in all black and wearing her power broach: the Mace of the Republic, which symbolizes the legislative authority of the House of Representatives. > > Here's Pelosi on the House floor with her broach vs a pic of the mace. pic.twitter.com/D0lw3ciR7S> > — Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) December 18, 2019Vox notes, "Worn as a brooch, it delivers the unspoken message that Pelosi is the authoritative figure of the House. It asserts the political power she holds in office as speaker — particularly notable given that just yesterday, Trump accused her and House Democrats in a rambling letter of 'declaring open war on American Democracy.'"Now, six committees will present evidence to Pelosi as House Speaker to be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee and make the final call on whether or not Trump says in office — and we can't wait to see what Pelosi wears. This isn't the first time Trump has been shaded with a well-placed brooch and a woman with an agenda. Last summer, Queen Elizabeth II may have been throwing shade at Trump with three different brooches during his state visit to Buckingham Palace in July, including one that she wore to her mother's funeral. And that's not where it stops. The suit she wore with the funeral pin is the same one she wore to Parliament following the Brexit vote, which @SamaruiKnitter, a jewelry blogger who explained the significance of the pieces on Twitter, referred to as Queen Elizabeth II's "Official Outfit of Don't Wanna."Related Content:Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Did Queen Elizabeth II Just Shade Donald Trump?Did Queen Elizabeth Just Shade President Trump?Is This How Melania Trump Protests Her Husband?
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| Iran’s Rouhani Seeks Checks on Election-Vetting Body: IRNA Posted: 05 Feb 2020 10:44 AM PST ![Iran's Rouhani Seeks Checks on Election-Vetting Body: IRNA]( "Iran's Rouhani Seeks Checks on Election-Vetting Body: IRNA") (Bloomberg) -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani asked his top aides and lawmakers to draft a bill revising the election-related powers of the Guardian Council, one of the Islamic Republic's most powerful institutions, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.Rouhani instructed his first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, to work with his top legal advisers and parliamentarians to review the ability of the council -- a 12-member chamber of clerics and legal scholars -- to vet and disqualify potential candidates for elections, IRNA reported.The move, which is likely to face resistance from other political factions and from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, comes after swathes of candidates, including allies of Rouhani, were disqualified from standing in the Feb. 21 parliamentary vote. Khamenei appoints half of the council's members.Last month Rouhani said the scale of the disqualifications, which include 90 sitting reformist lawmakers, undermined the validity of the election and would result in a single-party race. Earlier Wednesday, Khamenei criticized those who challenged the Guardian Council's vetting process and urged all Iranians to participate in the vote.To contact the reporter on this story: Golnar Motevalli in Dubai at gmotevalli@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, ;Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| What To Know About Donald Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial Posted: 05 Feb 2020 10:26 AM PST  Just when you thought impeachment season was coming to a close, a new set of trials will determine President Donald Trump's future. On January 15, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially sent over the two articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives, ending a 27-day stalemate between our two most powerful legislative bodies. This move also set President Donald Trump's formal Senate trial in motion. And ICYMI, it's been quite the wild ride on Capitol Hill.This whole thing started back in August, when a whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump tried to use his office — and state officials — to force a foreign power to dig up dirt on a political rival, Joe Biden. The so-called Ukraine scandal rankled most everyone in Washington D.C. in the following months, when speculation over repeated attempts to impeach Trump suddenly became very plausible. And, it all came to a head on September 24 when Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry, which lasted through mid-December. After the House of Representatives called several key witnesses to trial, the House took a final vote on December 18 to determine whether or not Donald Trump would be the third impeached President in U.S. history. On December 18, a 230-197 party-line vote in the House approved two articles of impeachment: obstruction of congress and abuse of power.And that seemed like the end of it — Donald Trump was officially impeached. But because nothing bureaucratic is ever simple, impeachment doesn't actually mean removal from office. That's where the Senate trial comes in. Now, the Senate will have the opportunity to conduct their own trial based on the articles of impeachment, but this time to determine criminality. Ahead, we've detailed what the next steps are in the Senate's impeachment hearings. What is the difference between the Senate and House impeachment trial?Now that Trump is impeached, his trial will move from the House of Representatives to the Senate. The House tried him for impeachment, whereas the Senate will try him on criminal charges and determine if he should be removed from office. To date, the United States has never removed a sitting President from office following a Senate trial, though two presidents before Trump were both impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Following the impeachment vote, Pelosi could've just held onto the articles of impeachment indefinitely and left Trump in limbo for as long as he holds office. But the House Speaker delivered the articles to the Senate on January 15, even handing out souvenir pens in the process. When will the Senate impeachment trial start?On Tuesday, January 21, the Senate will begin its impeachment hearings. In January, Pelosi named Reps. Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Zoe Lofgren, Sylvia Garcia, Val B. Demings, Hakeem Jeffries and Jason Crow as the impeachment managers, functioning as prosecutors for the trial and responsible for making the House's case for removal. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the impeachment managers would present the articles the following day, and began the process of establishing rules on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Will the Senate impeachment trial be televised?Yes, the impeachment trial will be televised, but it will be very different from other congressional hearings you've watched on TV. This time, the Senate is controlling all cameras in the chambers and they will all have limited and fixed positions to avoid zoomed-in reaction shots. Although C-SPAN which is a cable-funded network, attempted to request cameras inside chambers, they haven't received a response yet — and likely won't. This essentially limits media coverage of the entire impeachment trial, which goes many precedents for reports, though it does mirror the same process as Bill Clinton's 1999 Senate trial. How will the Senate impeachment trial work?Unlike a normal trial, instead of a judge determining what will and won't be admissible, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have the power to introduce rules, shoot down proposals, dictate pace and control essentially every other facet of the trial. On Monday, January 20, McConnell announced that he plans to give House impeachment managers and Trump's counselors each two days to lay out their opening arguments in court in an effort to stick to his speedy trial, taking place entirely between 1pm and 1am on consecutive days.McConnell also already indicated that witnesses will be a hard no, even though Democrats have only requested four. Trial rules are established by a simple majority — which the Republicans have at roll call, 53-47. Unlike a normal trial, instead of a judge determining what will and won't be admissible, McConnell will have the power to introduce new rules, shoot down proposals, dictate pace, and control essentially every other facet of the trial. Who will be involved in the Senate impeachment trial?All 100 senators will be involved at the Senate hearings, even the ones who are currently campaigning, which means that Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar will have to be in Washington during key weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses. Chief Justice John Roberts will oversee proceedings and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will also play his leading role in determining the Senate's trial rules throughout the process, in addition to the seven representatives that will act as impeachment prosecutors as named by Pelosi. On Monday, January 20, Trump's counselors submitted a 110-page brief to the Senate calling for a swift acquittal. What does the Senate vote for in the impeachment trial?A couple of things. The Senate doesn't just vote on Trump's removal, they also vote on all the rules of the trial. The Senate will listen to arguments for and against the removal of the president, and they'll vote to decide whether he should be acquitted or found guilty of criminal charges. A super majority is needed to actually remove a president, which means that anything less than 67 votes would spell an acquittal. For context, no president has ever been removed by impeachment, although Andrew Johnson was acquitted by just one vote. But, whether or not the president committed a crime doesn't need to be a determining factor in any verdict during this trial. What matters is whether those crimes warrant a removal, in the Senate's view. As a matter of fact, there are Republican senators — and his own Chief of Staff — that have already conceded the notion that the president probably did the things the House impeached him for doing, but those same senators haven't given any indication they would vote to remove him from office. What will happen to President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial?If 67 senators conclude that Trump is guilty of crimes in the articles of impeachment, he will be removed from office. In his place, Vice President Mike Pence, who is next in the line of succession, will step into the President's role. If less than 67 senators conclude that asking Ukraine to help take down a political rival is a removable offense, then Trump would be acquitted — and presumably emboldened. But as nearly every Democrat has reiterated, not impeaching Trump would've likely done the same thing. So now, we wait. What happened during opening arguments of the Senate impeachment trial?At the end of January, opening arguments finally concluded between Democratic impeachment managers and Donald Trump's legal team. Democrats argued that Trump abused power by trying to investigate a political opponent by withholding Congress-approved funds from the Ukraine. Spearheaded by Schiff, the managers also argued that Trump's team attempted to stonewall the House of Representatives' subpoenas, and called repeatedly for the testimony of former national security advisor John Bolton. But, Trump's legal team responded by saying that all the accusations attempting to approve abuse of power were, in fact, "outside the range of impeachable offenses." Now that opening arguments have concluded, Wednesday marks the first day of questioning in the impeachment trial. What is the Senate vote going to mean on February 5?On Wednesday, the Senate will finally vote on charges against Trump that the House of Representatives impeachment him of. The difference here is that the Senate vote will try President Trump on criminal charges. If he is found guilty, he will be the first-ever President impeached by the Senate and removed from office. But, the Republican-majority Senate is reportedly going to acquit Trump of all charges instead, ending the impeachment trial and leaving Trump to continue running for a second term.Related Content:Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Impeachment 2020: What Happens To Trump Next?Will The Iran Attack Affect Trump's Impeachment?A Timeline Of Donald Trump & Nancy Pelosi's Feud
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| FBI director warns of ongoing Russian 'information warfare' Posted: 05 Feb 2020 10:15 AM PST |
| Abbas to push UN resolution on Trump peace plan: officials Posted: 05 Feb 2020 10:14 AM PST  President Mahmud Abbas will travel to the United Nations next week to push for a Security Council resolution condemning US President Donald Trump's peace proposals, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. "The draft resolution that will be voted on in the Security Council will include the rejection of the Trump-Netanyahu deal," Saleh Rafat, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told AFP, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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| Merkel Heir Apparent Bruised As Party Flirts With Far Right Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:59 AM PST ![Merkel Heir Apparent Bruised As Party Flirts With Far Right]( "Merkel Heir Apparent Bruised As Party Flirts With Far Right") (Bloomberg) -- The leader of Germany's Christian Democrats battled to recover control after a state leader lined up alongside the far right in a key regional vote.Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right CDU on Wednesday voted alongside the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany to put a candidate from the pro-business FDP into power in the eastern region of Thuringia.The unprecedented alliance provoked outrage from across the political spectrum and put on the spot CDU party leader and Merkel's heir apparent, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had sworn off any cooperation with the AfD. AKK, as she's known, disavowed the state party's decision and urged Thuringia to hold a new election. "This is not a good day -- not for Thuringia, not for Germany's political system," she told reporters during a visit to Strasbourg, Deutsche Presse Agentur reported. Meanwhile protesters gathered in front of CDU headquarters in Berlin.The leader of the FDP, Christian Lindner, said his party would never cooperate with the AfD and instead would seek to form an alternative coalition government.The shock vote in Thuringia reveals how the AfD has upended German politics with its presence in all of Germany's 16 states. The euroskeptic populists gained momentum on wide-spread discontent with Merkel's immigration policy, which opened the door to more than 1 million mostly Syrian refugees.Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats, lost no time in calling out political treachery. They said Merkel's party, which denied there was any planned cooperation with the AfD, crossed a red line in backing a candidate with help from the far right.Low Point"It's a catastrophe," Diana Lehmann, an SPD lawmaker from Thuringia, said in a text response. "It's more than breaking a taboo. The FDP and the CDU are making the AfD palatable."Lars Klingbeil, the SPD's general secretary in Berlin, called the development a "low point in Germany's postwar history."The political reverberations also threaten to push Merkel's coalition with the SPD to a breaking point, the latest clash in the last two years that has driven a wedge between the governing parties.The AfD, which has shaken up Germany's political establishment with its attacks on Merkel's migration policy, came in second place in the Oct. 27 state election in Thuringia. The state's premier, Bodo Ramelow of the anti-capitalist Left party, no longer had a majority to lead a coalition with the state SPD and the Greens.Wednesday's vote was intended to install Ramelow for a second term at the head of a minority government. After failing in two rounds to secure an absolute majority, Ramelow was poised to win with a simple majority. Instead, the FDP nominated Thomas Kemmerich as its candidate, with the backing of the CDU.It was at that moment that the AfD, which had nominated its own candidate, swung its votes behind the Free Democrat, upending what was intended to be Ramelow's re-election. In October, the FDP had barely garnered enough votes to make it into the state legislature."This premiership election in Thuringia is the first important piece in the mosaic of a fundamental political change in Germany," the AfD's co-leader, Joerg Meuthen, said in a statement. "The socialist specter and the post-communist tenure of Ramelow has come to an end."The CDU leader of Thuringia, Mike Mohring, said he expects Kemmerich to maintain a "clear separation" from the AfD even though the far-right party helped elect him to office. He said there was no collusion between the CDU and AfD.(Updates with AKK quotes in third and fourth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt, Andrew BlackmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Bulgarian judge denied entry to US over alleged corruption' Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:50 AM PST ![Bulgarian judge denied entry to US over alleged corruption']( "Bulgarian judge denied entry to US over alleged corruption'") Pompeo said the wife and daughter of Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov also won't be allowed into the U.S. "In his official capacity, Mitalov was involved in corrupt acts that undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Bulgaria," Pompeo said in a written statement Wednesday. Mitalov issued a court order in November that allowed the head of a pro-Russia organization in Bulgaria to travel to Moscow to receive a state honor from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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| A Dangerous Mini-Submarine Stars in Iran’s Propaganda Video Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:48 AM PST  A semi-official news agency in Iran has circulated an old propaganda video depicting an Iranian navy submarine sinking a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group. The video is ludicrous on its face.
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| Germany’s Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:30 AM PST ![Germany's Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake]( "Germany's Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Germany made post-war history on Feb. 5. In a total shock, one of the country's 16 state parliaments elected a premier with votes that included members of a hard-right populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Worse, one of the AfD leaders in that state, Thuringia, is Bjoern Hoecke, considered to be on the party's extreme — indeed proto-Fascist — wing. Is Germany following the example Austria set decades ago and, 75 years after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, normalizing the far right?Not so fast. The Thuringian surprise is a political quake that will reverberate across Germany, and potentially Europe. But it doesn't necessarily represent an accelerating shift to the right, and certainly not the beginning of a descent toward populist nationalism of the sort that's become de rigueur in Hungary and Poland. What took place in Thuringia's parliament this week is worrying. But it was constitutionally above board and may yet turn out harmless.Thuringia is usually peripheral in Germany politics, and certainly unusual. Located in what used to be East Germany, it exemplifies that region's political direction since reunification in 1990. The two strongest parties in its parliament are the Left, which is descended from the Socialist Unity Party that once ruled East Germany, and the AfD. The centrist parties that governed West Germany after 1949 and then the reunited country are weak in Thuringia.It was widely assumed that Thuringia's previous premier, Bodo Ramelow, would be reelected. He belongs to the Left, which is considered scandalous by Christian Democrats and other conservatives because of that party's connection to former communist dictators. But he's a pragmatic type, and personally popular. He couldn't cobble together a majority in parliament with the Social Democrats and Greens on the center-left, but it was assumed that enough other centrists would support him.They didn't get a chance. After a series of surprising maneuvers, a candidate from the pro-business Free Democrats, the smallest party in the chamber, got himself elected to the premiership in the third round of voting. Thomas Kemmerich won with 45 votes to Ramelow's 44, which means he must have drawn support not only from his own party and Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats but also from the AfD.The AfD, predictably, celebrated its coup. You can't ignore us any longer, was its message to the nation. Just as predictably, all the other mainstream parties cried foul: The Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens accused Kemmerich and his Thuringian clique of breaking postwar "taboos" and kindling "political arson." Notably, so did the national leaders of the Christian Democrats, including Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the party's boss and presumed candidate to succeed Merkel as Germany's chancellor. She reprimanded the Thuringian branch of her party for playing with fire.All of this means Kemmerich and his Free Democrats in Erfurt, all five of them, won't be celebrating long. They don't have a stable majority, since they don't agree with the AfD on anything, and they've already pledged that they'll never negotiate with extreme right-wingers. If Kemmerich plods along, his government will always be one vote of no-confidence away from collapse.One way or another, the likeliest outcome of this crisis is that Thuringia will have to call a new election before long. And this time the region's voters will have looked into the abyss, and will — one hopes — understand what's at stake.The politics of Thuringia resemble those of Germany and indeed all of Europe in becoming more fragmented and unstable. That doesn't make a rightward drift inevitable. Modern Germany's democracy is mature enough to weather this storm.To contact the author of this story: Andreas Kluth at akluth1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andreas Kluth is a member of Bloomberg's editorial board. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Germany’s Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:30 AM PST ![Germany's Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake]( "Germany's Far Right Causes a Political Earthquake") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Germany made post-war history on Feb. 5. In a total shock, one of the country's 16 state parliaments elected a premier with votes that included members of a hard-right populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Worse, one of the AfD leaders in that state, Thuringia, is Bjoern Hoecke, considered to be on the party's extreme — indeed proto-Fascist — wing. Is Germany following the example Austria set decades ago and, 75 years after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, normalizing the far right?Not so fast. The Thuringian surprise is a political quake that will reverberate across Germany, and potentially Europe. But it doesn't necessarily represent an accelerating shift to the right, and certainly not the beginning of a descent toward populist nationalism of the sort that's become de rigueur in Hungary and Poland. What took place in Thuringia's parliament this week is worrying. But it was constitutionally above board and may yet turn out harmless.Thuringia is usually peripheral in Germany politics, and certainly unusual. Located in what used to be East Germany, it exemplifies that region's political direction since reunification in 1990. The two strongest parties in its parliament are the Left, which is descended from the Socialist Unity Party that once ruled East Germany, and the AfD. The centrist parties that governed West Germany after 1949 and then the reunited country are weak in Thuringia.It was widely assumed that Thuringia's previous premier, Bodo Ramelow, would be reelected. He belongs to the Left, which is considered scandalous by Christian Democrats and other conservatives because of that party's connection to former communist dictators. But he's a pragmatic type, and personally popular. He couldn't cobble together a majority in parliament with the Social Democrats and Greens on the center-left, but it was assumed that enough other centrists would support him.They didn't get a chance. After a series of surprising maneuvers, a candidate from the pro-business Free Democrats, the smallest party in the chamber, got himself elected to the premiership in the third round of voting. Thomas Kemmerich won with 45 votes to Ramelow's 44, which means he must have drawn support not only from his own party and Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats but also from the AfD.The AfD, predictably, celebrated its coup. You can't ignore us any longer, was its message to the nation. Just as predictably, all the other mainstream parties cried foul: The Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens accused Kemmerich and his Thuringian clique of breaking postwar "taboos" and kindling "political arson." Notably, so did the national leaders of the Christian Democrats, including Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the party's boss and presumed candidate to succeed Merkel as Germany's chancellor. She reprimanded the Thuringian branch of her party for playing with fire.All of this means Kemmerich and his Free Democrats in Erfurt, all five of them, won't be celebrating long. They don't have a stable majority, since they don't agree with the AfD on anything, and they've already pledged that they'll never negotiate with extreme right-wingers. If Kemmerich plods along, his government will always be one vote of no-confidence away from collapse.One way or another, the likeliest outcome of this crisis is that Thuringia will have to call a new election before long. And this time the region's voters will have looked into the abyss, and will — one hopes — understand what's at stake.The politics of Thuringia resemble those of Germany and indeed all of Europe in becoming more fragmented and unstable. That doesn't make a rightward drift inevitable. Modern Germany's democracy is mature enough to weather this storm.To contact the author of this story: Andreas Kluth at akluth1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andreas Kluth is a member of Bloomberg's editorial board. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pope defrocks founder of another Latin America-based order Posted: 05 Feb 2020 09:04 AM PST ![Pope defrocks founder of another Latin America-based order]( "Pope defrocks founder of another Latin America-based order") Another founder of a Catholic religious movement has been defrocked for sexual misconduct and abusing his power, the latest in a string of purportedly orthodox, charismatic priests who turned out to be predators. Pope Francis defrocked the Argentine priest, Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, after a four-year investigation determined he had sex with adults under his authority, absolved them of the sin during confession and otherwise abused his power. The pope's decision was made public this week in a statement by the archbishop of La Plata, Argentina, where Yannuzzi in 1994 founded the Miles Christi community.
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| Impeachment takeaways: Trump's iron grip, McConnell delivers Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:59 AM PST |
| Trump plan for Mideast will die before he does: Iran leader Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:32 AM PST  Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted Wednesday that Donald Trump would outlive the US president's controversial proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace. "This plan will certainly not work and it will die before Trump," Khamenei told a gathering in Tehran to mark the February 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled Iran's US-backed shah.
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| Vulnerable Democrat Doug Jones votes to convict Trump Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:23 AM PST  Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, widely considered the Senate's most endangered Democrat, voted Wednesday to convict President Donald Trump as the Senate impeachment trial concluded with Trump's acquittal — and Republicans will try to use Jones' vote against him as they seek to reclaim the once reliably red state. The Senate vote on both impeachment articles fell short of the required 67 votes in the Republican-dominated Senate to remove Trump.
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| Post Brexit, EU shows ‘little appetite’ for defense cooperation Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:17 AM PST  Political ties have been cut, but Britain's departure from the European Union leaves open questions about Brexit's impact on the defense industry.
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| Partial Iowa results give Buttigieg slight edge over Sanders Posted: 05 Feb 2020 08:05 AM PST  Pete Buttigieg held a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in the opening contest of the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, according to partial results released by the Iowa Democratic Party. Technical problems marred the complicated process, forcing state officials to apologize and raising questions about Iowa's traditional place atop the presidential primary calendar.
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| Devastating avalanche disaster leaves dozens dead in Turkey Posted: 05 Feb 2020 07:41 AM PST  Successive avalanches in eastern Turkey have killed at least 38 people and trapped dozens more, authorities said, per CNN.The first avalanche in the Van province, which borders Iran, occurred Tuesday evening, killing five people. In the aftermath, more than 100 rescue workers were reportedly sent to rescue two people still believed to be buried. The second avalanche came down Wednesday during the search, burying rescue teams and killing several members.Television footage reportedly showed dozens of people using shovels and sticks amid strong winds to dig out buried vehicles, NBC News reports. One vehicle was reportedly recovered from 16 feet of snow.The disaster comes less than two weeks after Elazig province, another region in eastern Turkey, was struck by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake which resulted in at least 36 deaths and thousands of injuries.More stories from theweek.com Trump just won the Iowa Democratic caucuses Should financial markets be freaked out by coronavirus? America is doing so much better than you think
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| Iraqi officials say Baghdad wants to minimize reliance on US Posted: 05 Feb 2020 07:21 AM PST  The Iraqi government has told its military not to seek assistance from the U.S.-led coalition in operations against the Islamic State group, two senior Iraqi military officials said, amid a crisis of mistrust between Washington and Baghdad after an American strike killed a top Iranian general and an Iraqi militia commander. The step shows that while the Iraqí leadership's demands for an immediate removal of American forces have cooled, they are serious about rethinking the strategic relationship, and this is directly affecting military cooperation. Officially, Iraqis have been unclear on the status of joint operations.
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| Russia's Impeachment Saga Survival Guide Posted: 05 Feb 2020 07:20 AM PST  Few in Moscow expect Donald Trump to make any major overtures to Vladimir Putin given that he just survived impeachment and is headed toward an election where any signs of friendliness toward the Kremlin will almost certainly be used against him. As a result, Russia will keep Washington at a distance.
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| Cyprus pledges crackdown on sham marriages Posted: 05 Feb 2020 07:16 AM PST ![Cyprus pledges crackdown on sham marriages]( "Cyprus pledges crackdown on sham marriages") Cyprus is preparing new legislation to curb the large number of sham marriages that are being conducted to help individuals obtain residency permits and potentially easier access to the European Union, the country's interior minister said Wednesday. Nicos Nouris said he's looking to clinch cabinet approval next week for the legislation that will bolster oversight of local government officials who conduct such civil ceremonies. Local media reported that EU-member Cyprus has come under fire from Portugal and Romania over marriages of convenience involving their citizens who are being exploited by criminal elements.
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| Key Takeaways From Trump’s State of the Union Speech Posted: 05 Feb 2020 06:56 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump, on the eve of his likely acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial, delivered his third State of the Union address -- and added to the drama with a handful of stage-managed surprises.His 78-minute remarks to Congress on Tuesday night never mentioned the word impeachment yet partisanship loomed over his visit to the Capitol. Republicans chanted "four more years" after the president was introduced at the podium and a swath of Democratic women were dressed in all white to honor suffragettes.The State of the Union offered Trump the chance to address the country after a tumultuous start to 2020, marked by conflict in the Middle East, fears over a rapidly spreading virus and new trade deals with Mexico and China. Here are the key takeaways:Betting on the EconomyTrump spent the first half hour of the speech lauding his record on the economy, calling it the "best it's ever been" and pointing to a "blue collar boom" in a sign of how much he'll lean on the issue heading into the November election.He rattled off a series of robust job market stats: unemployment rates for blacks, Hispanic Americans and women have all hit record or near-record lows during his presidency.Left unsaid was that those achievements are largely a function of a tight labor market and an economic expansion now in its record 11th year. Cracks remain: wage growth has slowed, the participation rate -- the share of the working population employed or looking for work -- still hasn't recovered its pre-recession level and the nation's overall income inequality is widening.As for the manufacturing sector, factories are planning investment cuts this year for the first time since 2009 and jobs added to the sector have slowed (in fact, declining in December).Hyper PartisanshipEvery State of the Union is a partisan affair, but with the impeachment trial and Democratic primaries taking place, the divide between the parties was stark. The president spent nearly the entirety of his speech turned to his left -- to face friendlier Republicans -- while Democrats largely stayed seated.As Trump made his points, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi frequently looked down and flipped through a copy of the president's speech, gazed at her colleagues on the right side of the chamber and seemed astonished when Trump cited policy achievements -- such as criminal justice reform -- that only passed because of Democratic support.Without looking their way, Trump criticized the "one hundred thirty-two lawmakers in this room" who "have endorsed legislation to impose a socialist takeover of our health-care system." He said another 130 Democrats would "bankrupt our nation by providing free taxpayer-funded health care to millions" of undocumented migrants.But Pelosi got the final say. As the president finished his speech, she picked up her copy of his remarks and tore it in half.Limbaugh's Medal of FreedomTrump delighted Republicans -- and horrified Democrats -- with the revelation that he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, who disclosed on his radio show Monday that he had advanced lung cancer.The decision, unusual for a State of the Union, seemed to catch Limbaugh off guard. He appeared astonished as Trump made the announcement and First Lady Melania Trump put the blue-ribboned medal around his neck."He is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet," Trump said of Limbaugh. "Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country."Limbaugh, an ardent Trump supporter, has frequently courted controversy. He gave fuel to Trump's debunked conspiracy that former President Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S. Limbaugh also lost many advertisers in 2012 after denigrating law student Sandra Fluke for speaking out about birth control.Drug PricesTrump demanded that Congress pass legislation that lowers prescription drug prices -- one of the few issues where Republicans and Democrats say they're willing to collaborate ahead of the November elections."I have been speaking to Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and others in the Congress in order to get something on drug pricing done, and done properly," Trump said. "Get a bill to my desk, and I will sign it into law without delay."An obstacle could be one Trump's key allies in Congress -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- who has resisted bringing up bills opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. Despite McConnell's stance, Grassley, a Republican, has said he would work to advance legislation he's written with Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.Members of both parties say lowering drug prices is a priority, and various proposals have been circulating in Congress. The Democratic-led House passed a bill last year that would enable Medicare to negotiate drug prices but it hasn't been taken up in the Senate. Many Democrats stood up in the House chamber and shouted the bill number, HR 3, at Trump as he implored them to send him legislation.Reality Show SpeechIn a nod to his reality show past, Trump sprinkled emotional surprises and giveaways into the now common use of civilian guests in the House gallery. To highlight his point about school choice, the president announced that Janiyah Davis, a fourth grader from Philadelphia sitting with her mother, would be receiving a scholarship to attend the school of her choice.After singling out an eighth-grade student from Arizona who Trump said dreams of joining the new Space Force, the president recognized the boy's great-grandfather, Charles McGee, a 100-year-old World War II veteran. McGee, who was in the chamber after taking part in Sunday's Super Bowl festivities, was promoted to brigadier general and had his stars pinned on his uniform by the president earlier Tuesday.In perhaps the most emotional moment of the night, Trump acknowledged Amy Williams, whose husband Townsend was in Afghanistan on his fourth deployment. After saying that Amy's two children had "not seen their father's face in many months," Trump announced that her husband was actually in the chamber. Townsend walked down the steps toward her seat, hugged their children, and was reunited with his family.Tough Talk on Mideast, VenezuelaWhile Trump touted his efforts to push back Islamic State and kill its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, his claims to have wiped out the terror group contradicted military officials. The Defense Intelligence Agency, for instance, has told the Pentagon's Inspector General that Islamic State exploited the withdrawal plans of U.S. troops from Syria to "reconstitute."The president campaigned in 2016 on pulling the U.S. out of the Middle East's "endless wars" -- a theme he repeated on Tuesday -- but since May he has sent more than 15,000 troops to the region as part of his campaign to pressure Iran.Trump again said he wants to end the almost 19-year-old war in Afghanistan, but his chief envoy to peace talks said this week that the situation in Afghanistan is complicated and may not lend itself to an easy end.Referencing another foreign policy hotspot, one of Trump's special guests in the audience was Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whom the U.S. has recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader more than a year ago.Inviting Guaido -- whom Trump referred to as "Mr. President" -- was clearly meant to give a shot of momentum to the Venezuelan opposition parties that have been unable to oust President Nicolas Maduro."Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people," Trump said. "But Maduro's grip of tyranny will be smashed and broken."\--With assistance from Roxana Tiron, Jordan Fabian, Nick Wadhams, Glen Carey, Ryan Beene, Laura Davison, Steven T. Dennis, Justin Sink, Katia Dmitrieva and Sarah McGregor.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Anna Edgerton in Washington at aedgerton@bloomberg.net;Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net;Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, Bill Faries, Jesse WestbrookFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Prada partners with UN on 10-city ocean education project Posted: 05 Feb 2020 06:45 AM PST ![Prada partners with UN on 10-city ocean education project]( "Prada partners with UN on 10-city ocean education project") Italian fashion house Prada is helping to fund a United Nations program that will enlist high school students from 10 cities to spread awareness about how humans impact the world's oceans, organizers said Wednesday. The Sea Beyond project is part of a wider, decade-long initiative to promote ocean science and sustainability being overseen by the U.N.'s cultural and scientific agency, UNESCO. Prada said in a press release that it would contribute the proceeds from sales of its PRADA RE-NYLON capsule collection, made from plastic recovered from the seas and recycled, to finance the four-month education project.
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| Germany's Merkel arriving in South Africa to talk trade Posted: 05 Feb 2020 06:17 AM PST  German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to arrive in South Africa on Wednesday to discuss trade, investment and energy issues with Berlin's largest trading partner in Africa. Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also are expected to discuss cooperation on the United Nations Security Council, where both countries are serving two-year terms as non-permanent members. Germany and South Africa "are committed to advocating for world peace and security, strengthening and reform of multilateral institutions and responding to climate change," Ramaphosa's office said.
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| Deadly avalanches strike eastern Turkey and more heavy snow is on the way Posted: 05 Feb 2020 06:04 AM PST  Multiple avalanches have claimed at least 38 lives in eastern Turkey following the latest winter storm to strike the region.An initial avalanche struck late Tuesday, claiming three lives in Van Province, according to the Associated Press. Emergency service members dig in the snow around at least three overturned vehicles, near the town of Bahcesehir, in Van province, eastern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. Some dozens of rescue workers are missing after being hit by an avalanche while on a mission to find two people missing in a previous snow slide. The emergency services were called to a highway in near the mountain-surrounded town in Van Province, which borders Iran, after an avalanche struck late Tuesday, burying a snow-clearing vehicle and a minibus. (DHA via AP) Around 300 emergency workers were called to the scene of the first avalanche in an attempt to save those buried along a mountain road.As rescue efforts continued into Wednesday, a second avalanche occurred and buried dozens of the rescuers under feet of snow.Rescue efforts resumed following the second avalanche, with early reports claiming five deaths from the first avalanche and at least 33 from the second. Emergency service members work in the snow around overturned vehicles, near the town of Bahcesehir, in Van Province, eastern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. (Yilmaz Sonmez/IHA via AP) More than 50 people were pulled from the snow and hospitalized after the second avalanche.An unknown number of rescuers remain trapped beneath the snow as of Wednesday afternoon local time.Snow, strong winds and poor visibility were affecting rescue efforts.AccuWeather meteorologists say some improvement in the weather is expected from Wednesday night into Thursday, but another storm system will bring more snow and strong winds to the region from Friday into the weekend.
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| Europe’s Graft Trouble Spot Sinks Into Crisis at Worst Time Posted: 05 Feb 2020 05:59 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria's president and prime minister are trading accusations in an escalating dispute over corruption that's threatening the nation's push to adopt the euro and join Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.Triggered by a crackdown by the newly appointed chief prosecutor, the standoff underscores a decades-long battle for influence in the Black Sea state. At its center are powerful oligarchs and suspected organized crime figures, officials accused of turning a blind eye to their activities and prosecutors who hold more power than anywhere else in the European Union.It comes at a crucial time for ex-communist Bulgaria, which is vying to end 12 years of scrutiny from the EU into its judiciary and anti-corruption efforts by showing the country's authorities can be trusted on issues from policing banks to securing borders."The government is obviously under some pressure," said Michael Taylor, a senior eastern Europe analyst at Oxford Analytica. "Brussels may be concerned about introducing the euro in another country where the government can't be trusted much."President Rumen Radev, whose immunity status is being probed by prosecutors, assailed Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's government this week for what he said are failures that have led to the breakdown of state bodies."The lack of will for reforms and for the fight against corruption and waste, the methodical violation of the law and morality has led to the paralysis of Bulgaria's whole social system and institutions," Radev said.Borissov, who is leading his third cabinet since 2009, said the president is "looking for confrontation with the government."President, 'the Skull'Sofia has set a goal to adopt the euro in early 2023 after its first bid to join the currency's waiting room was delayed because of doubts over its banks. Similar institutional concerns have blocked it from entering Schengen. The country ranks at the bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index as the worst in the EU after Romania and Greece.The U.S. has also criticized Bulgaria. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sanctioned the first Bulgarians, Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov and his family, for "his involvement in significant corruption." Mitalov issued an order in October allowing a Bulgarian suspect in a Russian spying case to travel to Moscow, where he received an award from President Vladimir Putin.The current dispute began after Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, appointed last year over the objections of Radev, judges and human-rights groups, asked the Constitutional Court to clarify a question on Radev's immunity after a conflict-of-interest investigation was halted due to his possible involvement. Radev denies wrongdoing.That coincided with the detention of gambling tycoon Vasil Bozhkov in the United Arab Emirates on charges including leading an organized crime gang and bribery. Long known in Bulgarian media as "the Skull," Bozhkov is considered one of the country's richest people. He says none of the charges have been proven."What we're seeing now isn't new," Dimitar Bechev, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said by phone. "The most probable motivation is a battle between oligarchic circles."Geshev's moves follow years of impunity for alleged law-breakers in the country of 7 million, which joined the EU in 2007.Unsolved MurdersSince 1995, at least 150 high-profile figures, including a prime minister, 15 soccer-club bosses, a presidential adviser, city officials and dozens of mob bosses have been murdered. Officials have convicted only a handful of people for the crimes.In the last seven years, police, special forces and prosecutors have also conducted raids against the businesses of many of Bulgaria's elite. Dozens of ministers, acting and former, and other government officials have been charged with abuse of power or mismanagement. None have been jailed.Geshev himself led the 2014 investigation into Corporate Commercial Bank, then the country's fourth-largest lender. The operation ended with the trial of 18 people charged three years after a bank run that threatened the stability of the country's financial sector. No convictions resulted.The EU has noted multiple times how the powers of the prosecutor shield him from scrutiny, and Geshev and his predecessors have faced criticism for targeting selected cases while ignoring others.Radev has been pushing since last year for a public debate to change the constitution to make the chief prosecutor more accountable. Geshev rejects the accusations."My personal battle is to adhere to the law and to provide justice to Bulgarian citizens," Geshev said.(Updates with U.S. sanction announcement in ninth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Samuel Dodge and Kathleen Miller.To contact the reporter on this story: Slav Okov in Sofia at sokov@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Balazs PenzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Britain’s Departure From the EU Sets Clock Ticking: Timeline Posted: 05 Feb 2020 05:22 AM PST ![Britain's Departure From the EU Sets Clock Ticking: Timeline]( "Britain's Departure From the EU Sets Clock Ticking: Timeline") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Brexit is far from over. Britain's departure from the European Union on Jan. 31 marked the start of a new and, if anything, more complex phase of the negotiations. Here's a guide to the year ahead.Jan. 31: Brexit DayBritain formally left the EU, entering an 11-month transition period. By the end of the year, the two sides hope to reach an agreement on their future relationship. That won't be easy. It means reaching consensus not just on trade but on other issues such as the level playing field, the role of the European Court of Justice, fisheries, financial services, and security cooperation.Feb. 20: Budget TalksEU leaders meet in Brussels to discuss the bloc's first budget round after Brexit. How will the 27 remaining members make up the funding gap caused by Britain's departure?Feb. 25: EU due to agree on its negotiating mandate.The bloc has said it is willing to offer the U.K. a "highly ambitious" trade deal -- but only if Boris Johnson signs up to the bloc's rules to prevent unfair competition and allows EU boats access to U.K. fishing waters.March 3: First round of negotiations begins.March 26-27: EU leaders meet in Brussels.June 18-19: European Council of EU leaders and planned summit with U.K.This will be a crunch meeting because the two sides must decide by the end of the month whether to extend the transition period, allowing more time for negotiations.June 30: Deadline for extending the transition.Johnson has already ruled out any prolongation of the negotiations. If he does change his mind and seek a delay, Britain would have to pay more money to the EU.July 1: Soft DeadlinesBy now, the EU and U.K. should have reached an accord on fisheries, a precondition for a trade deal, as well as a deal on what access London's financial services firms will have to the single market after the year-end.July: EU-U.K. negotiations continue.Sept. 13: Extraordinary meeting of EU leaders in Leipzig, Germany.Oct. 4-7: Conservative party conference in Birmingham.Oct. 15-16: EU leaders meet in Brussels.They will want any agreement to be nailed down by now to allow time in case individual member states have to ratify it -- but if Brexit negotiations have taught us one thing, it is that seemingly immovable deadlines can be moved.Dec. 10-11: EU leaders meet in Brussels.Dec. 31: End of transition period.If the two sides haven't signed a trade deal by now, Britain will default to trading on World Trade Organization terms. Tariffs and quotas would be imposed, and customs checks would be reintroduced.\--With assistance from Ian Wishart and Nikos Chrysoloras.To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Evans in London at eevans3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Paul SillitoeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| How the US repeatedly failed to support reform movements in Iran Posted: 05 Feb 2020 05:11 AM PST  After decades of conflict, recently escalated to near-war, it appears there's little chance that U.S. relations with Iran will ever improve.For 40 years, the relationship between the U.S. and Iran has been marked by disagreement – but also by a series of missed opportunities. Over the past two decades, a number of organic Iranian activist movements have steadily been growing stronger. If, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleges, the U.S. has been worried about the Iranian regime for the past 40 years, why didn't U.S. policies and policymakers support Iran's numerous voices – growing louder and larger – calling for support to overthrow the hardline Islamists in power? Important values sharedEngagement is not the same thing as intervention. Engagement can mean support – including support of the causes that the majority of Iran's population were calling for – from the entire global community. And the support that many called for could help the people of Iran hold the regime accountable. Iranian activists need international support to hold their government accountable. For instance, the Canadian and Ukrainian governments joined Iranian citizens' calls for investigation into the downing of Flight 752. Despite the monolithic portrayal of Iran by people like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, or even historian Samuel Huntington as diametrically opposed to all things "Western," on many ordinary Iranians – young people and activists in particular – share important values with Americans. Iranians who have been taking to the streets for the past several years have been calling for things like human rights, equality, women's rights and government accountability. And while the two governments have been in conflict, Iranian students at universities have welcomed dialogue with their Western counterparts. Between 2000 and 2008, I spent extensive periods in Iran conducting research with young people engaged in what they called a "sexual revolution," or "enqelab-i-jensi" in Persian. These youthful Iranians rejected the regime's tyrannical control of the bodies of its people. One example of the regime's power: mandatory dress codes for all. The regime wanted to restore a moral order by rejecting what it viewed as a toxic infatuation with the West, or "Westoxification."As young activists – men and women alike – they resisted the regime by using their bodies to make a statement. Tepid US responseIn 2009 many of the same young people who were active in the sexual revolution spilled into the streets in the thousands to protest the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A product of the hard-line Islamist movement, Ahmadinejad represented a move away from the opening up that his predecessor, reformist President Mohammad Khatami had introduced. Activists felt that in addition to moving the country backward, Ahmadinejad had won the presidency through election fraud.This was the beginning of the Green Movement, a civil rights-type movement that took the country by storm. Young and old poured into the streets, wearing green, chanting "not my president" and calling openly for regime change. The Green Movement was one of the largest organized resistance efforts the region had seen in decades, and was important in laying the ground work for the Arab Spring.Young Iranians were at the forefront of the Green Movement, calling for transparency in government decision making and elections. They begged the world for support, but few responded.The U.S. preferred a more "hands off" approach. While Iranian activists had hoped that President Barack Obama would take a strong stance and call out the election fraud, when he did speak, his message was cautious. "The world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," said Obama in 2009. Many activists in Iran believe that the Green Movement was a missed opportunity for members of the U.S. government to strongly support a resistance that could have forced the regime to reckon with its poor record on issues such as human rights and women's rights. Pushing back the hijabIn the years before and after the Green Movement, feminist activists continued to publicly call for regime change, often by highlighting the regime's unequal treatment of women. Between 2007 and 2009, many of the activists involved in the One Million Signatures campaign – a campaign in support of women's equality – turned their efforts to the impending election of 2009, and then, subsequently, to the Green Movement.In 2014, a social media campaign with the hashtag MyStealthyFreedom spread rapidly, featuring images of Iranian women photographing themselves in public without their hijab. In 2018 public protests against mandatory veiling swept the nation, with women standing publicly without headscarves in protest. Again, Iranian feminists called for global solidarity. Again, the global community – including the U.S. – didn't respond. While public endorsement may have made it easier for the regime to accuse protesters of being in the pocket of the Great Satan, as they called the U.S., a call on the regime to be accountable to its people by engaging local activists could have positively affected their cause. Trump speaksThe resistance of feminist and human rights activists may have started out in the late 1990s in urban parts of the country – Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan – among young people who for the most part identified as secular. But calls for regime change steadily increased across the entire country.The Green Movement's themes resurfaced in late 2017 and early 2018 in protests triggered by a rise in gas prices. Millions of people of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds – including those who were secular as well as religious – marched in the streets to protest the government and demand equality, accountability and transparency.Another round of protests have erupted in the past few weeks since the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iranian regime's response, which included the downing of Flight 752. When protesters spilled into the streets, Trump responded by applauding them, decrying the regime, and citing the protests as evidence of his strategy at work. But Trump's words rang hollow. This was not the kind of engagement that local activists wanted. It yoked their cause to Trump himself – a leader who can easily be profiled by the regime in power as a living embodiment of hostility to Iran. So as Iranians pour into the streets again, many of them are likely wondering why the U.S. has been passively watching – issuing a destructive tweet here and there – rather than engaging with progressive, liberal movements for change. [ Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today's news, every day. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * US and Iran have a long, troubled history * Iran and America: A forgotten friendshipPardis Mahdavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| A Timeline Of Donald Trump & Nancy Pelosi’s Intense Feud Posted: 05 Feb 2020 05:10 AM PST  In the latest installment of the White House's bleak iteration of Punch and Judy show, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly squared off once again. In January, Pelosi stopped by ABC's "This Week" to make the vague and frankly terrifying claim that Trump has already been "impeached for life," regardless of whatever shenanigans Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is inevitably planning to pull during the president's upcoming Senate trial."This president is impeached for life regardless of any gamesmanship on the part of Mitch McConnell," Pelosi said. "There is nothing the Senate can do to ever erase that."The comment inspired its own Twitter hashtag, ImpeachedForLife, followed, in due time, by its unavoidable counterpart: NancyPelosiFakeNews. It's not the first time two of the most visible leaders of the free world have engaged in a spat so unproductive that it somehow makes the rest of Twitter look light and fun by comparison, and it certainly won't be the last. On February 4, after Trump's lengthy 2020 State of the Union, the duo went toe-to-toe once again when Trump refused to shake Pelosi's hand, and she decidedly destroyed his speech at the end — literally.Trump and Pelosi's feud runs deep and unrelenting — from the infamous Pelosi clap to the practically daily Twitterstorm sponsored by @realDonaldTrump to that letter about Trump's impeachment. The bad blood between these two top-ranking U.S. leaders goes beyond just entertainment fodder — it's elicited some of the most intense political quarrels (and low-brow jokes) perhaps in history. So without further ado, let's take a look back at some of the high-profile clashes between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi cancels Trump's 2019 State of the UnionOne of the most recognizable hallmarks of our current political moment is that, while everything feels uniquely bad, it somehow simultaneously feels like it's all happening for the millionth time in a row — Groundhog Day-style. While it's hard to remember for sure if the 2019 government shutdown was for sure the first time Pelosi and Trump publicly butted heads since the latter took office, seeing as how time doesn't matter, it seems like a fine place to start. After the House Speaker publicly rescinded her collegial invitation to Trump to deliver his State of the Union, citing the ongoing government shutdown as her reasoning, the president responded by summarily announcing that Pelosi's planned trip to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan had also been cancelled. "Dear Madame Speaker: Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed," Trump wrote. "We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over," The infamous Pelosi Clap™Nearly a month after the public meltdown over cancelled flights, Trump arrived at the Capitol Building to deliver his State of the Union address at long last. What he likely didn't count on, however, was Pelosi being right there with him, locked and loaded, ready to antagonize like only someone who has spent their wading into political dogfights knows how to. Not only did Pelosi show up in white — white! On HIS day! — she expertly stole Trump's thunder with a couple of perfectly timed flashes of side-eye and an appropriately withering round of applause. Most importantly, the Pelosi Clap, which went down as one of the most meme-d moments maybe of Trump's entire presidency. In this moment, Pelosi sarcastically clapped for Trump, pursing her lips, and seemingly holding back laugher as he turned around to look back at her and Vice President Mike Pence. Pelosi announces the official impeachment inquiry into TrumpThe incident that really launched the whole thing into the sun was the moment Pelosi caved to months of political pressure and officially announced that she was reversing her longstanding position on refusing to impeach Trump on some bizarre bipartisan impulse. This was the official mark of the impeachment inquiry into the president, to which he has refused to tolerate every step of the way.At the close of one particular press conference Pelosi gave in the midst of a media firestorm over the impeachment proceedings, one reporter's question wafted above the others as the House Speaker attempted to maker her way offstage: "Do you hate the President, Madam Speaker?" The insinuation prompted to swivel around and hustle back to the podium for one final thought. "I don't hate anybody," she said. "I was raised in a Catholic house. We don't hate anybody… I still pray for the President. I pray for the President all the time. So, don't mess with me when it comes to words like that."It is widely acknowledged that telling somebody that you are "praying" for them is one of the most hilarious and classy ways to be rude, so hats off to Pelosi for really nailing the tone here. The baffling Trump impeachment letterDays before the House was slated to vote on two articles of impeachment against Trump, he published a jumbled six-page open letter addressed to "The Honorable Nancy Pelosi" in which he derided the entire proceeding as a partisan sham. Trump referred to the impeachment hearings as an "open war on democracy," and Pelosi responded in kind by calling it "sick."Also within the letter, Trump accused Pelosi of "violating your oaths of office… [and] breaking your allegiance to the Constitution." It quickly became the subject of Stephen Colbert's "impeachment eve" rant. Pelosi announces Trump's impeachment with a distinct "mom side eye"On December 19, 2019 — the day the House was set to vote on two articles of impeachment against President Trump — Pelosi once again threw a sartorial gauntlet. This time dressed in all-black and wearing a Mace of the Republic brooch meant to symbolize the legislative authority of the House of Representatives.Also under close scrutiny on that day? Pelosi's facial expression, which a body language expert told Refinery29 could have been not-so-subtly repressed glee. "She gave the mom side eye of admonishment," the expert said. "If you look at her lips, there's lack of symmetry. Part of her wants to be emotional and express outward." Merry Christmas, "Crazy Nancy Pelosi"This is Trump's go-to insult for the House Speaker on Twitter, and he's deployed it dozens of times at this point. But, he even did it on Christmas this past year amid a riveting impeachment announcement. Middling burn, 4.5/10 stars. Nancy Pelosi rips up Trump's 2020 State of the Union speechOn February 4, 2020, Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union speech with Pelosi and vice president Mike Pence sitting behind him. When walking into the room, Trump seemingly denied Pelosi a hand shake and tensions were already high. When he concluded his speech, Pelosi stood up and began ripping her copy of the speech in front of everyone. "It was the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative," Pelosi said in an interview following the SOTU.Related Content:Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Nancy Pelosi Wants Iran To Cease ViolenceWill The Iran Attack Affect Trump's Impeachment?Nancy Pelosi's Impeachment Death Stare, Analyzed
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| R0: How scientists quantify the intensity of an outbreak like coronavirus and its pandemic potential Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:55 AM PST  If you saw the 2011 movie "Contagion," about a worldwide pandemic of a new virus, then you've heard the term R0. Pronounced "R naught," this isn't just jargon made up in Hollywood. It represents an important concept in epidemiology and is a crucial part of public health planning during an outbreak, like the current coronavirus epidemic spreading outward from China.Scientists use R0 – the reproduction number – to describe the intensity of an infectious disease outbreak. R0 estimates have been an important part of characterizing pandemics or large publicized outbreaks, including the 2003 SARS pandemic, the 2009 H1N1 Influenza pandemic and the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. How much will a disease spread?The formal definition of a disease's R0 is the number of cases, on average, an infected person will cause during their infectious period. The term is used in two different ways. The basic reproduction number represents the maximum epidemic potential of a pathogen. It describes what would happen if an infectious person were to enter a fully susceptible community, and therefore is an estimate based on an idealized scenario.The effective reproduction number depends on the population's current susceptibility. This measure of transmission potential is likely lower than the basic reproduction number, based on factors like whether some of the people are vaccinated against the disease, or whether some people have immunity due to prior exposure with the pathogen. Therefore, the effective R0 changes over time and is an estimate based on a more realistic situation within the population.It's important to realize that both the basic and effective R0 are situation-dependent. It's affected by the properties of the pathogen, such as how infectious it is. It's affected by the host population – for instance, how susceptible people are due to nutritional status or other illnesses that may compromise one's immune system. And it's affected by the environment, including things like demographics, socioeconomic and climatic factors.For example, R0 for measles ranges from 12 to 18, depending on factors like population density and life expectancy. This is a large R0, mainly because the measles virus is highly infectious.On the other hand, the influenza virus is less infectious, with its R0 ranging from 2 to 3. Influenza, therefore, does not cause the same explosive outbreaks as measles, but it persists due to its ability to mutate and evade the human immune system. What makes R0 useful in public health?Demographer Alfred Lotka proposed the reproduction number in the 1920s, as a measure of the rate of reproduction in a given population.In the 1950s, epidemiologist George MacDonald suggested using it to describe the transmission potential of malaria. He proposed that, if R0 is less than 1, the disease will die out in a population, because on average an infectious person will transmit to fewer than one other susceptible person. On the other hand, if R0 is greater than 1, the disease will spread.When public health agencies are figuring out how to deal with an outbreak, they are trying to bring R0 down to less than 1. This is tough for diseases like measles that have a high R0. It is especially challenging for measles in densely populated regions like India and China, where R0 is higher, compared to places where people are more spread out.For the SARS pandemic in 2003, scientists estimated the original R0 to be around 2.75. A month or two later, the effective R0 dropped below 1, thanks to the tremendous effort that went into intervention strategies, including isolation and quarantine activities.However, the pandemic continued. While on average, an infectious person transmitted to fewer than one susceptible individual, occasionally one person transmitted to tens or even hundreds of other cases. This phenomenon is called super spreading. Officials documented super spreader events a number of times during the SARS epidemic in Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing. R0 for coronavirus spreading from ChinaA number of groups have estimated R0 for this new coronavirus. The Imperial College group has estimated R0 to be somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences have estimated R0 to be much higher, at 4.08.These differences are not surprising; there's uncertainty about many of the factors go into estimating R0, such as in estimating the number of cases, especially early on in an outbreak. Based on these current estimates, projections of the future number of cases of coronavirus are fraught with high levels of uncertainty and will likely be somewhat inaccurate.The difficulties arise for a number of reasons. First, the basic properties of this viral pathogen – like the infectious period – are as yet unknown.Second, researchers don't know how many mild cases or infections that don't result in symptoms have been missed by surveillance but nevertheless are spreading the disease.Third, the majority of people who come down with this new coronavirus do recover, and are likely then immune to coming down with it again. It's unclear how the changing susceptibility of the population will affect the future spread of infection. This is especially important in Wuhan, the origin of the epidemic.Finally, and likely the most important reason, no one knows the future impacts of current disease control measures. Epidemiologists' current estimates of R0 say nothing about how measures such as isolation or quarantine efforts will influence the virus' future spread.[ You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * What is a super spreader? An infectious disease expert explains * Why the coronavirus has become a major test for the leadership of Xi Jinping and the Communist PartyJoseph Eisenberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Snowfall blankets Texas, Oklahoma; Deep South to see storms Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:51 AM PST |
| Time For Palestinians To Present Their Own Peace Plan Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:46 AM PST ![Time For Palestinians To Present Their Own Peace Plan]( "Time For Palestinians To Present Their Own Peace Plan") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Palestinian leadership has publicly responded to President Trump's so-called peace proposal with "a thousand no's." So far, so predictable. But if President Mahmoud Abbas has any hope of limiting the damage from the Trump plan—which gives Israel license to annex large parts of the West bank and leaves the Palestinians at best trapped in an unworkable Bantustan—he needs to craft a more serious rejoinder.U.S. officials have invited the Palestinians to come up with a counteroffer; Arab and European governments would welcome one that validates their opposition to the Trump plan and continued commitment to the two-state framework. Abbas has said he will present a proposal in the next couple of weeks, likely at the United Nations.The momentum is on his side. The Europeans have rejected the plan, pointing out that it is utterly at odds with international law, existing agreements and understandings. There was some initial ambivalence from the Arabs: Seeking closer ties to Israel in their confrontation with Iran, some Arab countries had hoped to embrace the proposal. Ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain were present at the launch ceremony. But an Arab League summit unanimously rejected the proposal as "unjust," and warned Israel not to proceed with its annexation plans. The Arab position was reiterated by the 57-state member Organization of Islamic Cooperation.The Trump plan poses the greatest threat to potential Palestinian independence in decades, yet it has also strengthened Abbas' authority at home by uniting the political factions, including Hamas, in opposition to it and, perforce, around his national leadership.The stage is perfectly set for Abbas to present a bold new Palestinian vision for peace with Israel. The easy, and wrong, thing to do—and going by his track record, what he is most likely to do—would be to simply frame the Palestinian position as a vague, two-state formula based on UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. This was exactly the position he took at the UN last year, but times have changed dramatically.A reprise of that speech might be politically popular with Palestinians, where Abbas would be seen as sticking to their national talking points. But it would achieve nothing for them: the Trump plan has already altered the political landscape, and it may not be long before Israeli annexation irreversibly changes facts on the ground too. To undermine the Trump initiative, Abbas will need to show political courage and leadership—and flexibility. His own plan should embrace significant compromises on key final-status issues.If he can't produce a detailed conceptual map of proposed borders for the Palestinian state—those details would require negotiating with Israel--Abbas can at least identify some of the Jewish settlements that Palestinians are willing to trade for equal areas of unpopulated land in Israel, and a transit corridor to Gaza. He can concede that most Palestinian refugees will have to make do with compensation and citizenship in a Palestinian state rather than a return to what is now Israel. (He can cite himself as an example of this, as he has in the past.)He can commit to reasonable security arrangements and a non-militarized state along Costa Rican lines—with police and security forces but no standing military, and committed to staying out of all conflicts—but not one controlled or surrounded by Israel.And he can affirm that Jerusalem would serve as the capital for both Israel and Palestine.But Abbas should also insist that the Palestinian state be fully sovereign and in control its borders, airspace and electromagnetic spectrum and coastline.Finally, he should agree that such an understanding would be an end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to all claims against each other.All this would be entirely consistent with the positions the Palestinian leadership has presented at the negotiating table for decades, but has never honestly explained to its own public. As a result, such a plan would be controversial among Palestinians, but Abbas should point out that the Trump proposal is a national emergency, requiring the breaking of some political taboos.At the UN, Abbas should also hold up a copy of the signature page of 1993 Declaration of Principles, signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Israel and the U.S., and note that it is formal and binding. He can easily demonstrate that his vision is entirely consistent with its provisions while the Trump proposal is not. All negotiations, he should insist, must be based on this signed and agreed-upon framework, and not some new diktat from the White House.If Palestinians respond with such a serious counteroffer, they will reinforce Arab and European opposition to the Trump proposal, and make any Israeli annexation effort far more difficult and costly. They will also greatly strengthen the hands of those in Washington who are committed to restoring sanity and viability to U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine.To contact the author of this story: Hussein Ibish at hussein.ibish@gmail.comTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| David Cameron Rejected Johnson’s Offer to Chair UN Climate Talks Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:22 AM PST ![David Cameron Rejected Johnson's Offer to Chair UN Climate Talks]( "David Cameron Rejected Johnson's Offer to Chair UN Climate Talks") (Bloomberg) -- Former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said he turned down an offer by the incumbent, Boris Johnson, to lead this year's round of United Nations climate talks.Johnson last week sacked former energy minister Claire O'Neill as president of November's COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow. That sparked a row that overshadowed the premier's formal launch of the conference on Tuesday, as O'Neill said the prime minister had told her he "doesn't really understand" climate change.It's also led to speculation about who might replace O'Neill in the diplomatic role, which involves liaising with representatives of more than 190 nations. The Financial Times late on Tuesday said both Cameron and former Foreign Secretary William Hague had been approached to take the role, but had declined. Cameron confirmed that was the case to the BBC on Wednesday."It was an honor to be asked to do that job and I was very grateful to be asked," Cameron said. "It's best in these situations if you have a Government minister doing a job; you then have sort of one line of command rather than, perhaps, two people doing the same thing."Read More: What Does Boris Johnson Really Think About Climate Change?Johnson was challenged in Parliament over the row on Wednesday. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn read out O'Neill's criticisms during prime minister's question time. Johnson insisted his record was a good one."If you look at what this government is achieving and has already achieved on climate change, it is quite phenomenal," Johnson told the House of Commons. "We are leading the world in our ambitions and we will have a wonderful summit in Glasgow."The president of COP -- which stands for Conference of the Parties -- is charged with seeking to balance the demands of developing and industrialized nations while being guided by a body of scientific evidence that shows humans aren't cutting greenhouse gases quickly enough. At the same time, they have to get to grips with a complex set of procedural rules and an array of acronyms and jargon that can often bog down the talks.Potential candidates for the role include Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, a former environment secretary who brought in measures to crack down on plastics use, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom, and Zac Goldsmith, a junior environment minister in the House of Lords known for his environmentalism.To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Albania's November quake caused $1.1 billion in damages Posted: 05 Feb 2020 04:20 AM PST ![Albania's November quake caused $1.1 billion in damages]( "Albania's November quake caused $1.1 billion in damages") A disaster report says the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Albania in November caused $1.1 billion in damages as well as killing 51 people and leaving 17,000 others homeless. The assessment report presented Wednesday was prepared by 60 Albanian and international experts from the European Union, World Bank and the United Nations. The report will be key for the Feb. 17 international donors' conference that the European Commission will hold in Brussels.
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| Sudan official: Talks with Israel about international status Posted: 05 Feb 2020 03:52 AM PST  Sudan's military said Wednesday the motive for agreeing to an initiative to normalize relations with Israel after decades of enmity was to help end the country's status as an international pariah state. The spokesman for Sudan's armed forces, Brig. Amer Mohammed al-Hassan, said in a news conference that a meeting between the head of Sudan's sovereign council and Israel's prime minister in Uganda on Monday was part of efforts to end Sudan's longtime status as a state supporter of terror. The goal of the talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, he said, was to help secure Sudan's removal from the United States' list of states that sponsor terror.
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