| Life on the line: Early voters wait 'as long as it takes' Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT  Americans are accustomed to standing in line. It was a living chain of hundreds of people who stepped into place — around the building, down some stairs and past a fleet of idled yellow school buses — determined to be counted in the elemental civic ritual of voting, which seems even more consequential in the bitterly fought 2020 presidential election. "If you want the United States to remain united, you need to vote," said Monique Sutton, 52 and a nurse practitioner.
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| Trump is 'legitimizing' hate incidents against Asian Americans: U.N. experts Posted: 16 Oct 2020 03:48 PM PDT  United Nations experts issued a mandate expressing "serious concern" regarding heightened racist and xenophobic attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. In the document made public this week, experts appointed by the Human Rights Council wrote that violence and attacks against people of Asian descent have reached an "alarming level" since the start of the outbreak. E. Tendayi Achiume — an author of the mandate who serves as special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance — told NBC Asian America that it's difficult to draw a clear link between the "China virus" rhetoric, frequently used by President Donald Trump, and the hate attacks.
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| UK, EU to discuss 'structure' of Brexit talks after walkout threat Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:33 PM PDT  European and British negotiators will be in touch Monday to discuss the "structure" of post-Brexit trade talks, despite London's threat on Friday to walk away unless there was a major shift in Brussels' approach.
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| Nobel winner urges billionaires to save millions from famine Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:18 PM PDT |
| US shoots down Putin proposal for one-year New START extension Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:08 PM PDT  Russia and the United States on Friday were at a new impasse over the last major nuclear arms reduction accord, with the United States calling President Vladimir Putin's proposal for an unconditional one-year extension a non-starter.
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| On World Food Day, Humanitarian Leaders Urge UN to Address Hunger’s Alarming Rise Due to COVID Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:08 PM PDT |
| Biden email episode illustrates risk to Trump from Giuliani Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:24 PM PDT  A New York tabloid's puzzling account about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden's son has raised some red flags. One of the biggest involves the source of the emails: Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani has traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens, developing relationships with shadowy figures, including a Ukrainian lawmaker who U.S. officials have described as a Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee.
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| Israel: Gaza militants fire rocket into southern Israel Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:23 PM PDT |
| Official: Turkey holds man suspected of spying for UAE Posted: 16 Oct 2020 11:33 AM PDT |
| ‘Putin’s Chef’ Barred From Europe for Shady Mercenary Operations Posted: 16 Oct 2020 11:32 AM PDT  When he was released from a Soviet prison in 1990, Yevgeny Prigozhin went to work as a hot dog salesman. Soon, the budding entrepreneur—who had just served nine years for robbery and fraud—began moving up in the world of gastronomy. He became the manager of a chain of grocery stores in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin's hometown, and eventually expanded into the restaurant business.In the late 1990s, Prigozhin opened New Island, a floating restaurant on St. Petersburg's Vyatka river. It became popular with the local elite, and a few years after its launch, Putin showed up for dinner at New Island with French President Jacques Chirac. As has now become lore in certain circles, Prigozhin himself waited on them.Prigozhin, who would come to be known as "Putin's chef," has said that New Island was inspired by the waterfront restaurants he saw along the Seine in Paris. But as of yesterday, he's barred from visiting them anytime soon.'Putin's Chef' Threatens to Destroy Alexei Navalny in the Courts if He Survives Poisoning On Oct. 15, Prigozhin was blacklisted by the European Union, freezing all of his European assets and barring him from entering the EU. The reason behind the ban had nothing to do with food, but with the activities of the Wagner Group, a private military company allegedly established by Prigozhin in 2014. Prigozhin has denied any link to the firm.The mercenary force, which is reportedly closely tied to the Kremlin, has fought to prop up Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar—who is battling the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.In announcing Prigozhin's EU ban, a statement from Brussels accused the Wagner Group of threatening Libya's "peace, stability and security."Over the summer, Prigozhin was sanctioned by the U.S. for the Wagner Group's operations in the North African nation. Prigozhin is also the founder of Russia's notorious Internet Research Agency, the state-backed "troll farm" accused in U.S. indictments of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Meanwhile, Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer who is close to Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, believes the men who recently poisoned Navalny were sent by Prigozhin. At the same time, Prigozhin is suing Sobol and Navalny for saying his company served rotten meat to schoolchildren.Private military companies such as the Wagner Group are in fact illegal under Russian law. However, certain favored outfits are permitted to operate—which they do, essentially, in a partnership of sorts with the state.As Barnard College professor Kimberly Marten explained in congressional testimony last July, "Keeping these groups illegal in Russia enhances plausible deniability for the Russian state, by allowing the Kremlin to distance itself from any unsavory or risky actions the groups take."The Wagner Group is said to have as many as 2,000 mercenaries in Libya, and has put for-profit boots on the ground in Syria, Venezuela, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. To get these contracts, "You need really big connections," a former member of the Russian security services told The Daily Beast. "It's an insane amount of money.""Everyone knows who is behind it, but nothing [about the government relationship] is put on paper," said the former operative, who now lives in the U.S. "But they are affiliated with the government, there's no way around it."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| French leader decries terrorist beheading of teacher Posted: 16 Oct 2020 10:31 AM PDT  French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an "Islamist terrorist attack" against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb Friday, urging the nation to stand united against extremism. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said. Macron visited the school where the teacher worked in the town of Conflans-Saint-Honorine and met with staff after the slaying.
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| Authorities: Top Mexico official helped smuggle drugs to US Posted: 16 Oct 2020 10:23 AM PDT  Mexico's former defense secretary helped a cartel smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States in exchange for bribes, according to court documents unsealed Friday. Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, 72, acted on behalf of the H-2 cartel while defense secretary from 2012 to 2018 under former President Enrique Pena Nieto, authorities said. Thousands of intercepted BlackBerry messages show the general ensured military operations were not conducted against the cartel, and that operations were initiated against rivals, according to prosecutors.
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| Israel settlement plans draw international condemnation Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:51 AM PDT  Israeli plans to advance the building of thousands of settlement units in the occupied West Bank drew European condemnation on Friday as approvals for constructions hit a record high in 2020. The European countries warned the building perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further threatens the viability of a two-state solution. The warning came after Israel on Thursday pressed forward on plans for more than 3,000 West Bank settlement homes.
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| Don't come to London for Brexit talks on Monday, UK tells EU Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:38 AM PDT |
| As the second wave arrives, can Germany escape the worst again? Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:30 AM PDT  Germany is once more in the grip of the coronavirus. Angela Merkel warned a few days ago that the country, which appeared to have escaped the second wave, could be heading for "disaster" unless drastic action is taken. In the past week alone, the headlines have included children being told to bring blankets to school because the windows have to be opened every twenty minutes to ward off the virus, and the news that the entire leadership of Germany's domestic intelligence agency is self-isolating after testing positive. Every day, the record for new infections is broken. There were 7,334 on Friday, up from 6,638 the day before. It's still nowhere near the sort of numbers seen in the UK or France, but the rate is going up fast. "We don't expect the numbers to fall tomorrow. They will continue to rise," Helge Braun, Mrs Merkel's chief of staff, said on Friday. "We are at the beginning of a really big second wave. Things are significantly more serious than they were in the spring." It is a stark assessment for a country that, until now, appears to have weathered the pandemic better than almost anywhere else in Europe. "A German exception?" was the headline in the New York Times earlier this year, when Germany made it through the first wave with a significantly lower infection and death rates than its European neighbours.
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| Impatient Democrats want Biden to do more in Texas Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:21 AM PDT  The whispers about Texas are picking up again. Millions of new voters are on the rolls, and Jill Biden flew in this week for an 800-mile campaign swing that stretched from El Paso to Houston. "They've stuck their toes in the water and they figured out that it's pretty warm," said Gilberto Hinojosa, the longtime chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.
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| GOP, Dems hope Supreme Court fight bolsters Senate prospects Posted: 16 Oct 2020 09:00 AM PDT  For Republicans, the nomination fight over Amy Coney Barrett is a chance to seal conservative control of the Supreme Court for decades. For some GOP senators, it's also a lifeline they hope will preserve their political careers and their party's control of the chamber in November's elections. The battle over President Donald Trump's pick is letting Senate Republicans facing tough reelections highlight issues like abortion and link themselves to a conservative, religious woman whose confirmation seems certain.
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| Putin proposes yearlong extension of nuclear treaty with U.S. Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:59 AM PDT  "It would be extremely sad if the treaty ceases to exist without being replaced by another fundamental document of the kind," Putin said.
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| Putin proposes yearlong extension of nuclear treaty with U.S. Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:59 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday made a strong call to save the last existing nuclear arms control pact between his country and the United States, proposing to extend it at least for one year. Putin's statement comes amid conflicting signals from Russian and U.S. diplomats about the fate of the New START treaty that is set to expire in February unless Moscow and Washington agree on its extension. Speaking at a meeting of his Security Council, Putin said that "it would be extremely sad if the treaty ceases to exist without being replaced by another fundamental document of the kind."
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| Extremist rebels attack UN peacekeepers in Mali; 1 killed Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:34 AM PDT |
| Taliban to suspend assault after US pledges to halt strikes Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:23 AM PDT  The Taliban said on Friday they have agreed to suspend attacks in southern Afghanistan that have displaced thousands this week — but only after the Americans promised to halt all strikes and night raids in keeping with the peace agreement the U.S. signed with the insurgents in February. The U.S. has been conducting air strikes in support of Afghan forces trying to repel week-long Taliban assaults in southern Helmand province that threatened to derail efforts to end Afghanistan's 19-year war. The Taliban pledge came after a meeting with U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. Austin Miller, commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a Taliban figure familiar with the discussions said.
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| The EU Is Putting Boris Johnson in a Dangerous Corner Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:10 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Like so many Brexit moments that are telegraphed as decisive, Boris Johnson's Oct. 15 deadline for a trade deal came and went. That the two sides are still talking points to the core fact of this negotiation: It's in both of their interests to find agreement.That doesn't mean a trade deal is guaranteed. As with negotiations during Theresa May's time as U.K. prime minister — which produced a Withdrawal Agreement that British lawmakers found too humiliating to swallow — the danger for the European Union is that it plays its hand too well. If Boris Johnson finds the political cost of accepting Europe's terms outweighs the economic cost of rejection, he'll be left with no choice.Pulling the plug on the talks and accepting "no deal" wouldn't be a hard sell in Britain. Johnson's parliamentary backbenches are filled, quite deliberately, with committed Brexiters, many of whom have counselled exactly that option. Johnson could also use a positive distraction for the virus-hit north of England, a Brexit stronghold that got him elected in December but where lockdown restrictions have created tension with his government. He might relish a chance to remind them of the good old days. Walking away would also let Johnson put the blame for Brexit's high economic price onto the EU. Even with a trade deal, there will be disruption and new costs for which many Britons are unprepared. By striking a deal, Johnson will own those costs too. And yet, Downing Street knows the lasting damage that no deal would inflict on the U.K. Any nationalistic buzz would be fleeting. On Friday, Johnson said it was time to prepare for leaving without a deal — which might sound to the unversed ear like, "We're outta here." But the door remains open. Negotiations are expected to continue next week, with the next EU-set deadline at the end of October. Johnson the classicist may be inclined toward Pericles's "daring and deliberation;" Johnson the Churchill biographer understands well that "talk, talk" keeps options open.While the scope of the deal that can now be reached is narrow compared to what was originally envisaged, the difference between no deal and a small deal is like the distance between zero and one. First there are the economic costs, piled on top of the expense of managing Covid. Dan Hanson of Bloomberg Economics estimates the near-term shock as about 1.5% of yearly gross domestic product. Worse is where those costs will be borne. Not having a trade deal would, for example, mean significant tariffs for the carmaking sector in the Midlands. This area has been hit hard by the pandemic and Johnson's tougher lockdown restrictions. This wouldn't be a great time to tell people there that they might lose their jobs, as well as have to pay more for imported food and goods.Johnson could claim, in pulling the plug, that he'd stood up for Britain's small (0.12% of the economy) and symbolic fishing industry. But 80% of the country's fishing catch is exported, much of it to the EU. Already fishermen in coastal communities face expensive post-Brexit frictions in the form of various health and origin certifications. There are other ways that leaving without a deal would hurt. The shock of ending a near 50-year close trading partnership in that fashion would create serious uncertainty for companies and dent consumer confidence. A skinny trade deal at least provides a floor for further talks and sets a tone of cooperation instead of acrimony.As odious as it would seem to the EU, it would be far better to give Johnson a reason to say "yes." This doesn't mean selling out French fisherman, or accepting that the U.K. will have no constraints on state subsidies. There is room for maneuver on all the areas of contention, and indeed negotiators seem to be getting closer on state aid. But the key word is compromise.The EU holds most of the cards; access to U.K. waters being the notable exception. But "no deal" would inflict damage on both sides — even if unequally. If that happens, the two parties will have to start over at some future point, and the EU will have to accept its share of the blame.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.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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| Some businesses opening, expanding despite pandemic hurdles Posted: 16 Oct 2020 08:04 AM PDT |
| EU slaps sanctions on 7 new Syria government ministers Posted: 16 Oct 2020 07:31 AM PDT |
| Biden outraises Trump $383M to $248M in September Posted: 16 Oct 2020 07:16 AM PDT  President Donald Trump was outraised by Democrat Joe Biden in September and is being outgunned financially by his rival with just weeks to go until Election Day. Trump's campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and associated groups, raised $247.8 million in September, well short of the $383 million raised by Biden and the Democratic National Committee in the same period. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh tweeted that the Trump effort had $251.4 million on hand at the end of September, compared with $432 million for Biden.
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| Brexit "trade talks are over", UK PM Johnson's spokesman says Posted: 16 Oct 2020 06:07 AM PDT |
| End Sars: Hated Nigerian police unit's founder 'feels guilty' Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:47 AM PDT  The Sars police unit is accused of widespread abuses, leading to 10 days of nationwide protests.
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| WHO study finds remdesivir didn't help COVID-19 patients Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:45 AM PDT  A large study led by the World Health Organization suggests that the antiviral drug remdesivir did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in contrast to an earlier study that made the medicine a standard of care in the United States and many other countries. The results announced Friday do not negate the previous ones, and the WHO study was not as rigorous as the earlier one led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It's approved for use against COVID-19 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and is among the treatments U.S. President Donald Trump received when he was infected earlier this month.
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| Yemen's rival sides complete war's largest prisoner exchange Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:41 AM PDT  Yemen's warring sides completed a major, U.N.-brokered prisoner swap on Friday, officials said, a development that could revive the country's stalled peace process after more than five years of grinding conflict. This week's prisoner release, the largest-ever in the war, marks a breakthrough in the implementation of a long-awaited deal between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led military coalition supporting the country's internationally recognized government. "We're very happy this operation has concluded with success, regardless of how challenging it was to put it together," said Yara Khawaja, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, which has overseen the swap.
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| Boris Johnson warns U.K. may crash out of E.U. as Brexit talks falter Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:30 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday, the U.K. must prepare for a no-deal break with the European Union unless there is a "fundamental" change of position from the bloc. Johnson said the E.U. was refusing to give Britain a trade deal like the one it has with Canada, which the U.K. is seeking. Refusing to bow to U.K. pressure, E.U. Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said less than an hour after Johnson made his ultimatum, that the E.U. still wants a Brexit trade deal "but not at any price."
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| White House rejects Putin response to US arms control offer Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:10 AM PDT  The U.S. and Russia on Friday rejected each other's proposals for potentially salvaging the last remaining legal constraint on their strategic nuclear forces. President Vladimir Putin called for an unconditional extension of the soon-to-expire New START treaty, and the White House called that a "non-starter." Adding an edginess to the diplomatic clash, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, suggested the Russians rethink their stance "before a costly arms race ensues."
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| AP-NORC poll: Voters see the nation as fundamentally divided Posted: 16 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Overall, 85% of registered voters describe Americans as being greatly divided in their values, and only 15% say that democracy in the United States is working extremely or very well. The poll shows voters overall are especially pessimistic about the impact of Trump's reelection: 65% say divisions would worsen if the Republican president were reelected, a number that includes a quarter of his supporters. Thirty-five percent of voters believe Biden would divide the country further should he win the presidency.
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| You Can’t Blame the EU for Not Trusting Boris Johnson Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:51 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- This is not the Brexit endgame Boris Johnson expected. Thursday was supposed to be the U.K. prime minister's make-or-break moment for reaching a trade deal with the European Union before the transition period ends on Dec. 31. Without an agreement by then, both sides should just "move on," he said last month. It was part of a hardball strategy that also involved a proposed law that set the U.K. on course to breach the Brexit departure terms it agreed to barely a year ago.Yet as with previous attempts by Johnson to split the EU's 27 members — notably France and Germany, the "bad" and "good" cops of Brexit — it backfired.European leaders gathered in Brussels decided that as far as Brexit was concerned there wasn't much to discuss after all. They agreed they would keep negotiating on the same basis as before, and called on the U.K. to make the next move. The issue of fishing rights, a bone of contention between France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel, failed to produce much in the way of a public clash. "We are 100% united," said European Council President Charles Michel.Johnson's response on Friday was blustery but ultimately inconclusive: He heaped scorn on the EU for not giving the U.K. the free-trade deal it wanted and warned it was time to prepare for a "no-deal" outcome, but he also kept the door open for further talks.U.K. negotiator David Frost had earlier said he was "surprised" and "disappointed" by the EU's stance. But this rings hollow. It shouldn't shock anyone that the EU tends to stick together when Johnson tries to divide and conquer, especially with a threat to pull the plug on talks (which he's made before). There's a lack of trust here, made worse by Johnson's Internal Market Bill, which has both angered the EU and stoked divisions within British politics. There is no incentive for the bloc to sell French (and Irish) fishing boats down the river for a deal.Hence why we seem to be stuck in an eternal time loop. Brexit isn't a celebratory trade negotiation between two actors pursuing mutually beneficial comparative advantage by knocking down barriers. It's the reverse: A once free flow of trade between both sides ($570 billion in 2019) must now be governed by new terms, with the U.K. tempted to compete aggressively on tax and regulation, while the EU tries to protect its single market from commercial "dumping." Brexit is for London to exult in, and Brussels to defend against.The trust deficit has made things worse. The U.K. has treated questions of regulatory alignment and state aid as an affront to its sovereignty, which only confirms Brussels's fears that post-Brexit Britain wants to maximize market access and minimize pesky rules of engagement. Although both sides have softened their positions somewhat, Johnson's cavalier attitude to respecting the Brexit terms he signed up to — including when he breezily stated he would enforce an agreed customs border in the Irish Sea over his "dead body" — casts doubt on the ability to enforce future agreements.In an ideal world, rather than engaging in more no-deal brinkmanship, the U.K. and EU would keep edging towards compromise — especially when both sides need to focus on battling Covid-19's second wave. A strong mechanism to settle disputes and a shared state-aid oversight body should be to the U.K.'s benefit, not just the EU's. As for the fight over fishing, given the U.K. exports 75% of its catch to the EU, it is surely in British interests to keep its neighbors on-side with access agreements that last longer than one year. But until the U.K. shows itself willing to back down on positions like its breach of international law, the issue of trust will remain a sticking point. The EU won't rush through a trade deal only to have it knocked down by the European Parliament. EU lawmakers have already warned that ratifying any agreement would be conditional on the U.K.'s respect for Brexit terms agreed last year. If Brexit has taught the EU anything, it's that it pays to stick together in an uncertain world. Donald Trump's presidency and the assertiveness of China have pushed the Europeans to circle the wagons in defense of their greatest asset: A barrier-free single market promoted by Margaret Thatcher, expanded eastward under Tony Blair, and governed by financial and antitrust rules influenced by British civil servants. Johnson's legacy, unwittingly, may be only to further strengthen a trading giant the British helped create.(Adds Johnson's response on Friday in fifth paragraph.)This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the European Union and France. He worked previously at Reuters and Forbes.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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| Mobile roaming: What will happen to charges after Brexit? Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:27 AM PDT  Will Britons be able to use their mobile phones in Europe after Brexit transition, without paying extra?
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| Lebanon praises US mediation in maritime border talks Israel Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:17 AM PDT  Lebanon's President Michel Aoun told a visiting U.S. official Friday that his country "heavily relies" on Washington's mediation regarding a disputed maritime border with Israel, and hopes the United States can help the sides overcome difficulties they may face. Aoun's comments were released by his office following his meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, the top American diplomat for the Middle East. The statement by Aoun's office quoted Schenker as saying that he hopes the negotiations will be completed as soon as possible and reach positive results.
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| Millions of Yemenis lose access to aid amid funding shortfall, UN says Posted: 16 Oct 2020 03:27 AM PDT  A shortage of funds has meant four million Yemenis have lost access to aid, the United Nations humanitarian chief has said, warning that the "window to prevent famine" is closing in the war-torn country. Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council on Thursday that aid agencies had just 42 percent of their programmes funded in Yemen, meaning key services were being axed. Aid agencies are helping nine million people a month in Yemen, down from 13 million at the start of the year, Mr Lowcock said. "What is to be the fate of the four million we no longer have the money to help?" he asked. In his last briefing to the Security Council on Yemen, when the UN's $ 3.4 billion humanitarian plan for Yemen was just 30 percent funded, Mr Lowcock singled out Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait for contributing nothing this year. Shortly afterwards Kuwait announced a $20 million donation and Saudi Arabia committed to giving $204 million to UN agencies. The kingdom's overall $500 million pledge to Yemen was half of 2019. The UAE did not pledge funding for Yemen this year. In 2018, famine was only averted by an emergency injection of aid, and Mr Lowcock warned that time was running out to do the same in 2020. "The window to prevent famine in Yemen is closing," he said. "Funding is up somewhat, but we still have a long way to go to prevent suffering." A prisoner swap between the warring sides continued for a second day on Friday. In total, 1,081 prisoners, including 15 Saudis and four Sudanese, were to be exchanged, which Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said on Thursday "brings hope for peace-building". But overall, the five-year conflict shows little signs of abating. There are now 47 front lines now active across Yemen, according to the UN, the most ever recorded. "Food security data show clearly that the worst hunger is concentrated in areas affected by the conflict," Mr Lowcock said. Ending fighting is crucial to improving the humanitarian situation, Mr Lowock said. "The crisis urgently needs a political solution," he said. "That's what would help move the country back from the edge of famine."
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| Why this libertarian is voting for Biden Posted: 16 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  As a lifelong libertarian, I've found presidential elections to be a largely meaningless exercise, a choice between tweedledee and tweedledum. Libertarianism is about protecting individual liberty and keeping state power in check. Neither Republicans nor Democrats do either consistently. So if I dragged myself to the polls, it was mainly because, as a naturalized American, I wanted to witness the quadrennial exercise in democracy-making of my adopted country.Not this time.This time my civic duty as a libertarian requires me to help defeat President Trump by casting my ballot for the only candidate who can defeat him: Joe Biden.To be clear, Biden is no libertarian hero. He is a political opportunist. He portrays himself as a criminal justice reformer now, for example, but until recently he had been boasting that his name was on every civil liberties-busting crime bill since 1970. Worse, he picked as his running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris, whose hardnosed approach to law enforcement as Golden State's attorney general earned her the sobriquet "top cop."By contrast, Trump, to his credit, passed First Step, a criminal justice reform bill that has resulted in shortening drug sentences for 4,000 offenders as well as advanced school choice, another issue on which Democrats have it truly backwards as far as libertarians are concerned.Still, the libertarian case against Trump is so over-determined that it's hard to know where to begin.Some of Trump's free market supporters claim that his tax cuts and deregulation have restored lost economic liberties. But he hasn't cut taxes so much as imposed them on future generations, given that his profligate spending has blown up the national debt to record levels. Indeed, Trump spent in four years what his predecessor spent in eight, and the latter's bill included the tab for the financial meltdown while Trump's trillions of dollars in COVID-19 relief don't even factor into his. The size of government is nearing a record high, notes Brookings Institute's Paul C. Light. "Despite campaign promises to the contrary, Trump opened the contract and grant spigots instead, adding more than two million jobs to the blended federal workforce, including one million in the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Health and Human Services alone," he maintains.And it's not just Trump's profligacy that offends my libertarian sensibilities. He's an aggressive economic interventionist. Both he and Biden are protectionists, of course. But it's even worse in Trump's case given that he is the leader of the (allegedly) free trade party. President Bill Clinton relied on Republican support to buck special interest groups on his side to pass NAFTA and normalize trade relations with China, both accomplishments that Trump has thoroughly trashed. His trade apostasy has shifted the Overton Window, handing Democrats the license to become even more protectionist in the future.And then there is Trump's need to pick economic winners and losers, something that used to be anathema in his party. If Biden wants to tax businesses to eradicate income inequality, Trump wants to command them to do their patriotic duty. He has jawboned American automakers that shuttered money-losing plants because he considered it an affront to his America First agenda. He showered taxpayer dollars on Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufacturer, to prod it to locate its manufacturing plant in southeastern Wisconsin to create jobs that never materialized.What about his much-vaunted deregulation? Whatever good he did early on has been wiped out by his hostility to trade and Big Tech. "Trump cuts, but Trump also adds," the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute declared.But CEI didn't even take into account the worst aspect of Trump's regulatory overreach: His unprecedented assaults on immigration almost entirely by executive fiat and administrative means.Biden, to his shame, opposed drivers licenses for unauthorized immigrants and stayed mum when President Obama ramped up deportations. But Trump's zero-tolerance border policies have resulted in unspeakable human rights abuses. Just recently news broke that the Department of Justice's top guns gave orders to separate kids from Central American migrant parents regardless of how young they are. Trump even reportedly considered "extreme action," such as shooting migrants in the legs.And then there are his assaults on foreign professionals. He has just announced unprecedented and sweeping new restrictions on the H-1B visa program that will basically make it not just impossible for companies to hire new professionals but result in mass firings of those already in their employ. Courts might stop him for now but all bets are off if he gets re-elected. As libertarian writer Jacob Grier laments: "Under Trump, Americans are less free to trade with foreigners, and less free to work with them, hire them, and welcome them as our neighbors."But Trump's policy record does not capture the true damage he's done to a libertarian vision for America.In the libertarian schema, government is a necessary evil that is charged with doing two things that are in tension with each other: Making people respect each other's rights while keeping its own tyrannical tendencies in check. That's why, for example, the First Amendment not only guarantees a right to free speech without government interference but also gives individuals the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." But the task of preventing rights violations is much easier in a tolerant and harmonious society. That's why, once elected, leaders shy away from stoking tensions.Not Trump.Trump launched his first campaign by playing on nativist sentiments and feeding Islamophobia. But his re-election has degenerated into outright racism. At a recent Minnesota rally, he complemented the predominantly white crowd on its "good genes" — and warned that Biden will turn the state into a "refugee capital," a cheap dig at the Somali refugees settled there. He has issued pro-forma condemnations of white supremacy in one breath and sanctioned it in another — retweeting "white power," calling the tiki-torch carrying white nationalists in Charlottesville "very fine people," and berating brown-skinned immigrants as hailing from "shithole countries" while musing why America can't get more from Denmark.Trump has both intensified existing culture wars while opening new fronts, politicizing ever more aspects of our lives. He publicly demanded that the NFL fire black quarterback Colin Kaepernick for bending the knee to protest police brutality, inflaming the conversation about a vital issue as it was getting started. He ginned up controversies where none existed by, for example, taking digs at the Oscars for handing the Best Picture prize to a foreign film, as if the only criteria for judging art is if it serves his MAGA agenda.Even something like mask wearing to stop the pandemic has become grist for Trump's culture wars. Under libertarian thinking, individual liberty presupposes personal responsibility. So a freedom-loving president would encourage voluntary mask use while pushing back on government mandates. Not this one. He proudly spurns mask use and encourages his followers to do the same.Trump sees politics as war and so he has no political opponents, only enemies. That, combined with his obsession with strength, means he gets along better with brutal dictators abroad like Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un than his critics at home. Witness his refusal to even express shock at the plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by armed militia.Indeed, one of the cardinal sins under libertarianism is the initiation of force. Trump commits it on a daily basis with his glorification of both private and state violence. He has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to "beat the crap" out of protesters at his rallies. But even before he became president, he expressed admiration for the "vicious" and "horrible" tactics that China's Communist rulers used to crush the pro-freedom protesters at Tiananmen Square and lamented that America, by contrast, is perceived as "weak." Hence it was no surprise that this summer he deployed the military police to tear-gas peaceful protesters outside the White House to clear the way for his Bible photo-op.But Trump's most dangerous trait by far is his open contempt for the institutions and norms of governance that check political power and hold it accountable. He has continued the tradition of usurping congressional authority to wage war abroad. He has attacked judges that rule against him and targeted the very idea of an independent judiciary. When a federal judge stayed his administration's new rules barring asylum applications, Trump condemned it as the handiwork of an "Obama judge," earning a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. He thinks executive agencies are his personal fiefdoms rather than guards against public corruption. And he has repeatedly abused his powers by pardoning a political ally like Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was convicted of criminal contempt and a war criminal against the wishes of top military brass. And in an act of brazen self-dealing, he commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, his former campaign adviser, who was convicted by a jury of lying to shield the president.This barely scratches the surface of Trump's four years of attacks on everything that would check his power, the latest iteration being his effort to delegitimize the election outcome itself. To be sure, one cannot find a president who has never once given in to the corrupting temptation of power. But one can scarcely find anyone who has done so this frequently and unapologetically.None of this is to suggest that libertarians won't have their work cut out for them in the event of a Biden victory, particularly when it comes to stopping the advance of the soft tyranny of the regulatory state that Democrats have come to embrace. But Trump with his authoritarian taste for the hard power of the police state is an existential threat to libertarian ideals.Relegating Trump and Trumpism to the dustbin of history is the only thing that matters right now.More stories from theweek.com The town halls weren't a debate — but Trump still won Is America ready for a boring president?
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| Brexit lorry park should be named after eurosceptic Farage: petition Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:30 AM PDT  UK campaigners have launched an online petition demanding a vast new lorry park being built to cope with Britain's post-Brexit freight traffic is named after anti-EU populist Nigel Farage.
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| World leaders pledged to protect nature. The U.S. and two others refused to commit. Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:26 AM PDT  Analysis: Biodiversity issues are "cross border," U.N. biodiversity chief Elizabeth Mrema said as she calls for "global solidarity" to tackle the crisis.
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| World leaders pledged to protect nature. The U.S. and two others refused to commit. Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:26 AM PDT  A million species of plants and animals including Asian elephants, orangutans and blue whales are now at risk of extinction, according to the United Nations. Last month, 70 world leaders signed the "Leaders Pledge for Nature" and vowed to take steps to halt the catastrophic human-made decline. There were three notable exceptions among those who didn't sign — President Donald Trump, his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
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| Chinese diplomat warns Canada against granting asylum to Hong Kong democracy protesters Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:17 AM PDT  China's ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu warned Ottawa not to grant asylum to those fleeing Hong Kong after a sweeping national security law was imposed on the territory. Doing so would amount to "interference in China's domestic affairs," said Mr Cong, who denounced Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters as "violent criminals." He even issued what sounded like a threat, saying if Canada cared about the "good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport-holders in Hong Kong, and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong SAR" that Ottawa should support China's efforts to fight violent crimes." He also denied that two Canadians detained in China since late 2018, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, were being held for political reasons. "There's no coercive diplomacy on the Chinese side," said Mr Cong. "Those two Canadians have been prosecuted because they were suspected of engaging in activities which endanger our national security." Canadian foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne described the ambassador's comments as "totally unacceptable and disturbing." These two hot button issues have exacerbated a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa that has, for years, shown no signs of abating. In 2018, Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, an executive at Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, on a US extradition request over alleged skirting of sanctions against Iran.
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| 'The Farage Garage': Thousands have signed a petition to name a massive Brexit lorry park after Nigel Farage Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:10 AM PDT  A petition to name a massive Brexit lorry park after Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is going viral.
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| Dominic Raab hints Brexit talks will continue after UK no deal deadline Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:08 AM PDT  The Foreign Secretary has suggested that Boris Johnson will continue Brexit trade negotiations despite the Government's surprise at the "attitude" of EU leaders and his no deal deadline being missed. The Prime Minister will make a statement later today about whether he will carry out his threat to walk out of trade talks with the EU and prepare to trade on WTO terms from January 1. Dominic Raab said there was a deal to be done with Brussels if the EU showed "flexibility". He described the two sides as "close" to agreement. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "There's a deal to be done, but there needs to be flexibility on both sides, energy and goodwill and political will on both sides." Mr Johnson set a deadline of yesterday's European Council summit in Brussels for a deal to be "in sight". David Frost last night branded a joint summit statement by EU leaders a disappointment. The UK's chief negotiator accused the EU of dropping a commitment to intensify negotiations before the bloc's deadline of the end of the month. EU leaders said the UK had to make "the necessary moves to make an agreement possible" and concede on fishing, the "level playing field" guarantees and the enforcement of the deal. They urged the European Commission to step up no deal planning. Rather than give in to the Prime Minister's demands for daily talks, leaders called for negotiations to "continue" ahead of the EU deal deadline of the end of October. Earlier drafts of the summit conclusions had demanded "intensified negotiations" but that was watered down by European capitals before the meeting of heads of state and government. Michel Barnier said last night the talks would intensify, despite the summit conclusions. He said he would be in London for negotiations next week but British sources said that was to be confirmed. "The negotiations aren't over," the EU's chief negotiator said, "I shall say to David Frost we are prepared to speed up negotiations." Mr Raab, a former Brexit Secretary, said the Government was "surprised by the attitude and the disposition" of the leaders. "We've been told that it must be the UK that makes all of the compromises in the days ahead, that can't be right in a negotiation, so we're surprised by that but the prime minister will be saying more on this later today," Mr Raab told Sky News. On the second day of summit talks, Ireland's prime minister said that Mr Barnier emphasised the need for "mutual respect" when he briefed EU leaders last night. Micheál Martin said leaders had given Mr Barnier "the necessary flexibility to continue with negotiations on behalf of the European Council to ensure a comprehensive fair and free trade deal". Angela Merkel said that the EU needed the UK to "remain open to compromise". "This of course means that we too will need to make compromises," the German Chancellor said in the early hours of the morning. Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg, said that the EU was waiting for Mr Johnson's statement when he arrived at the summit this morning. "We have fisheries and they have access to our market. The scale must be balanced. We can't have winners and losers here," he said. The Dutch prime minister denied the EU could have done more to convince the UK to continue negotiations after the first day of the summit ended. Mark Rutte said he hoped Mr Johnson would renew his commitment to securing the trade deal in his statement. He said it was time to "stop talking about words like continue or intensify" and start the final rounds of negotiation. "We want a deal. We will work until the last moment for that, but we do not want an agreement at any price," said Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister of Italy, said this morning.
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| Gilead's Remdesivir Ineffective In COVID-19 Patients, WHO Study Finds Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:05 AM PDT  Gilead Sciences, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GILD) antiviral drug remdesivir has been found to have "little or no effect on mortality on hospitalized COVID-19," a global study conducted by the World Health Organization has concluded. The study is posted on a pre-print server and is yet to be peer-reviewed.What Happened: WHO performed a global study -- covering more than 11,000 patients in 30 countries -- to find the effectiveness of four drugs, Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir (fixed-dose combination with Ritonavir), and Interferon-β1a, in treating coronavirus patients."For each drug in the study, the effect on mortality was disappointingly unpromising," WHO said in a statement, as per CNN. The international team of researchers has submitted its findings to a medical journal.Gilead in a statement to the Financial Times said "the emerging data appear inconsistent with more robust evidence from multiple randomized, controlled studies validating the clinical benefit of remdesivir."WHO's Solidarity trial will continue to evaluate other treatments, including newer antiviral drugs, immunomodulators, and anti-SARS COV-2 monoclonal antibodies, the United Nations agency said. These include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc's (NASDAQ: REGN) dual antibody cocktail drug and Eli Lilly And Co's (NYSE: LLY) double-antibody therapy.Why It's Important: There is no approved cure or vaccine to treat COVID-19 yet. Some studies have shown remdesivir helps hospitalized COVID-19 patients recover faster and slow down the progression of the disease.The drug was granted Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, and Gilead has sought a complete approval for the drug.Remdesivir -- initially developed by Gilead to treat Ebola -- was also one of the drugs administered to President Donald Trump when he tested positive for COVID-19.Price Action: GILD shares closed 1.70% lower to $62.96 on Thursday, and trading 0.24% lower in the after-hours session.See more from Benzinga * Options Trades For This Crazy Market: Get Benzinga Options to Follow High-Conviction Trade Ideas * Asian Markets Continue Downward Trend * BlackRock Sees China Bond Market As 'Fairly Attractive'(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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| Camfil Celebrates the 75th Annual World Food Day Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Camfil Celebrates the 75th Annual World Food Day In celebration of World Food Day, Camfil will be sharing their insights into food quality via their blogs and social media channels. Camfil USA Air Filters Food and Beverages October 16th marks the 75th World Food Day, and presents an exceptional set of challenges because of virus concerns and lockdown restrictions. Riverdale, NJ, Oct. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading air filtration industry manufacturer Camfil joins organizations globally in celebrating World Food Day this year. With over fifty years of experience in the industry, including focused expertise in the food and beverage segment, Camfil will be sharing their insights into food quality via their blogs and social media channels. What is World Food Day? As one of the most celebrated days on the UN calendar, World Food Day commemorates the 1945 founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Action and initiatives from governments, businesses, media outlets, non-profit organizations and the general public "promotes worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure healthy diets for all," according to the FAO. October 16th marks the 75th World Food Day, and presents an exceptional set of challenges because of virus concerns and lockdown restrictions. Air Filtration is Essential for Safe Food Production The importance of air filtration in the food and beverage production cannot be underestimated. The air quality in a production plant can vastly improve or diminish the quality of the end product, so it's important to maximize air quality in the fight to solve hunger around the world. "Across the world, the daily challenges facing the food & beverage industry have been intensifying for some time," say expert Patrick Lally, Food & Beverage Segment Manager at Camfil USA, "This World Food Day, let's talk about the importance of food safety and how the right high-efficiency air filters can provide an effective and affordable solution."About Camfil Clean Air Solutions Camfil's core belief is that clean air should be a human right. For more than half a century, Camfil worldwide has been helping people breathe cleaner air. As a leading manufacturer of premium clean air solutions, Camfil provides commercial and industrial systems for air filtration and air pollution control that improve worker and equipment productivity, minimize energy use, and benefit human health and the environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Camfil has been applying their decades of experience in biosafety containment, healthcare, and other sectors of the air filtration industry to provide technological solutions for the public as well as in hospitals and healthcare facilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajy4ARUOmbc Media Contact: Lynne Laake Camfil USA Air Filters T: 888.599.6620 E: Lynne.Laake@camfil.comF: Friend Camfil USA on FacebookT: Follow Camfil USA on Twitter Y: Watch Camfil Videos on YouTubeL: Follow our LinkedIn Pagehttps://hvacairfiilters.submitmypressrelease.comNews via: https://story.kisspr.com/ Attachments * Camfil Celebrates the 75th Annual World Food Day * Camfil USA Air Filters Food and Beverages
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| Virus at 'turning point' in Europe, hitting at-risk groups Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:27 AM PDT  Doctors are warning that Europe is at a turning point as the coronavirus surges back across the continent, including among vulnerable people, and governments try to impose restrictions without locking whole economies down. With newly confirmed cases reaching records, the World Health Organization warned Friday that intensive care units in a number of European cities could reach maximum capacity in the coming weeks. In response to the surge, the Czech Republic has shut schools and is building a field hospital, Poland has limited restaurant hours and closed gyms and schools, and France is planning a 9 p.m. curfew in Paris and other big cities.
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