| Why The Russian Cabinet's Resignation Was Good News For Vladimir Putin Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:45 PM PST  Putin has new options.
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| China deaths rise to 490, Japan confirms 10 cases on ship Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:30 PM PST  Deaths from a new virus rose to 490 in mainland China on Wednesday while new cases on a Japanese cruise ship, in Hong Kong and in Thailand showed the increasing spread of the outbreak and renewed attention toward containing it. Ten people from the cruise ship tested positive and were taken to hospitals, while all 3,700 crew and passengers on the ship will be quarantined on board for up to 14 days, Health Minister Nobukatsu Kato said. In Hong Kong, hospitals workers are striking to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off the virus, but four new cases without known travel to the mainland indicate the illness is spreading locally in the territory.
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| North Korea’s Next Submarine May Make Nuclear Talks Even Harder Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:30 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Kim Jong Un has spent much of his time as North Korea's leader developing bigger and more advanced nuclear weapons. This year, he may try to make them harder to find by putting them under the sea.Recent North Korean reports touting a new submarine and its test of a ballistic missile designed to be launched from one have fueled speculation that a sub may be the "new strategic weapon" Kim promised to unveil this year. While such a vessel would probably be noisy and unable to stray far from the coast without being tracked, it may be enough to serve Kim's needs.Even one submarine lurking off the Korean Peninsula, beyond the gaze of spy satellites, would give U.S. military planners a dangerous new threat to consider in the event of any conflict. And for Kim, anything that makes it harder for the U.S. to imagine an actual war, brings him closer to a goal that alluded his father: international recognition as a nuclear state."In terms of war planning, the U.S., South Korea, and Japan need to take the undersea nuclear threat seriously and plan for anti-submarine warfare contingencies," said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists and author of the upcoming book "Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea."Kim has kept the world guessing since pledging in a Dec. 31 speech to build a more powerful nuclear deterrent. Although a "strategic weapon" could include everything from advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles to multiple warhead payloads and more powerful atomic bombs, the secretive regime has publicly said it was making "big efforts" to expand its missile-carrying submarine fleet.How Kim Jong Un Keeps Advancing His Nuclear Program: QuickTakeLaunching a nuclear-weapons capable sub would provide the clearest illustration yet of Kim's efforts to bolster his arsenal despite President Donald Trump's June 2018 assertion that North Korea "no longer" posed a nuclear threat. Even before agreeing with Trump to "work toward complete denuclearization," Kim had demonstrated his ability to build hydrogen bombs and missiles capable of carrying them to any city in the U.S.A flurry of shorter-range missile tests last year showed the regime has since made progress toward developing solid-fuel rockets that are easier to hide, faster to deploy and harder to intercept. Among those was a submarine-launched ballistic missile that flew 910 kilometers (565 miles) into space on Oct. 2, giving it an estimated horizontal range of about 1,900 kilometers.That could put all of South Korea and Japan -- together home to about 170 million people including some 80,000 U.S. troops -- in range of a submarine hidden off North Korea's eastern coast. There, a vessel could hide among others from the country's fleet of 60 to 80 smaller submarines, leaving the allies unsure which, if any, are nuclear armed.North Korea sent out a fresh reminder that it's ready for conflict with Japan, warning its mortal enemy in a state media report late Tuesday that "it will fall into the abyss of ruin" if it tries to flex its military might.Vice Admiral Jon Hill, the head of the U.S.'s Missile Defense Agency, expressed confidence in the allies' ability to counter a nuclear-armed submarine after the latest SLBM test. "We need to keep an eye on it and continue to assess that to make sure the architecture's in place to deal with it," Hill told a Center for Strategic & International Studies gathering in October.North Korea has already teased the construction of a submarine that may be able to carry the new missile, publishing photos in July of Kim inspecting a large vessel under construction. The photos appeared to show a modified version of the diesel-electric Romeo-class vessels that comprise about one-third of the Korean People's Navy fleet, said Joseph Dempsey, a London-based research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.North Korea acquired seven Romeo-class submarines from China in the mid-1970s and began producing them domestically from kits until 1995, according to a study by the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The newer version appears to have an enlarged "sail" -- the highest part of the vessel -- to accommodate about three missile launch tubes, Dempsey said.North Korea was thought to have been developing another, more advanced submarine that weapons experts have dubbed the Sinpo C. So far, analysts haven't been able to confirm its existence using publicly available sources such as state-run media reports or satellite images.The modified Romeo design demonstrates North Korea's commitment to exploiting the limited material it can acquire under strict international sanctions to offset the military advantages of its much wealthier rivals in South Korea and the U.S. The country's submarine fleet -- among the world's largest -- has long been a key part of that strategy.Most of North Korea's submarines are smaller craft "designed to disrupt sea lanes, lay mines, attack surface vessels, and assist special operations units' infiltration," according to a white paper from South Korea's Defense Ministry. Seoul blamed such a vessel for firing a torpedo that sank its corvette Cheonan in 2010, killing 46 -- a claim denied by North Korea.That's a very different mission than the U.S. Navy's much larger nuclear-powered Virginia Class attack submarine, which can sit quietly submerged off an enemy's coast until its time to launch missiles from its dozen launch tubes. North Korea's Navy doesn't need to venture so far, be as stealthy or carry as many weapons."The scenario of a North Korean submarine creeping out into the Pacific with a nuclear-capable ballistic missile on board might capture the imagination, but it has little basis in reality," said Panda, of the Federation of American Scientists.The real value in a nuclear-armed submarine may be in its potential to strengthen Kim's position in negotiations with the U.S. Each advance toward a more credible nuclear weapon raises the costs of any American-led military action and reduces Washington's leverage toward eliminating -- rather than reducing or capping -- his nuclear arsenal.North Korea sees its submarine as an underwater complement to the land-based missile transporters that it has demonstrated with increasing effectiveness in recent years, said Dempsey, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. They just need another platform to divide the attention of U.S. and South Korean military commanders."For the purposes of providing an initial at-sea nuclear capability, this approach could be sufficient," Dempsey said. "All they need to do is avoid being detected," he said, "so they can launch their missile."(Adds statement from North Korea's state media in paragraph 9.)To contact the reporters on this story: Jon Herskovitz in Tokyo at jherskovitz@bloomberg.net;Adrian Leung in Hong Kong at aleung206@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Peter PaeFor 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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| Draft U.N. resolution condemns Israeli annexation in Trump peace plan Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:13 PM PST ![Draft U.N. resolution condemns Israeli annexation in Trump peace plan]( "Draft U.N. resolution condemns Israeli annexation in Trump peace plan") A draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Tuesday condemned an Israeli plan to annex its settlements in the West Bank in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's pro-Israel peace proposal. The draft text, circulated to council members by Tunisia and Indonesia, would seemingly face a U.S. veto, but nonetheless offered some members' dim view of the peace plan that Trump rolled out last week with great fanfare. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to speak to the council next week about the plan, possibly coinciding with a vote on the draft resolution.
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| Trump Had America’s Top TV News Anchors Over for Lunch—and Ate Them Alive Posted: 04 Feb 2020 03:02 PM PST  Donald Trump served various television news personalities a lunch described by one White House guest as soup and filet of sole Tuesday—but soon the assembled anchorpeople were eating out of his hand.Much to the disappointment of folks at CNN, nobody at the long table—who included NBC's Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC's David Muir and George Stephanopoulos, and CBS's Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan—bothered to ask why the president had gone out of his way to exclude the cable network run by Trump's former friend Jeff Zucker."MSDNC isn't here as well," Trump quipped—to polite chuckles but zero protests (not even by Meet the Press and MSNBC anchor Todd) from his captive audience, who were there ostensibly for a briefing on tonight's State of the Union address but instead were treated to a lot of presidential boasting about his poll numbers and the "through-the-roof" stock market, and a lot of gloating about the "fiasco" of Iowa's Democratic caucuses and the general disarray in the out-of-power party.Trump made sure to criticize his Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for declining to lower interest rates further. Asked about the exploding trillion-dollar deficits his administration has created, the president claimed that lower interest rates will allow him to reduce the red ink in his second term."He was chill," said a lunch guest. "He wasn't angry at all. He was friendly, outgoing, and relaxed. He was confident that he'll be re-elected."Trump also was sanguine about his participation in the fall presidential debates, saying, "Yeah, I'll do it," even though, he claimed, "the debate commission is filled with a bunch of Never Trumpers."Trump and his lovingly admiring vice president, Mike Pence, sat directly across from each other. The president was flanked by O'Donnell and Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum; Pence, meanwhile, drew Todd and Fox News' Bret Baier as his lunch partners. Also enjoying the cuisine—but staying away from the offered Chardonnay—were PBS' Judy Woodruff, C-SPAN's Steve Scully, CBN's David Brody, and Newsmax's Emerald Robinson, formerly a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist at Trump's favorite media outlet, One America News Network.Trump indicated that tonight's speech will run to one-and-a-half hours, and he planned to mention but spend little time talking about the ongoing impeachment proceedings. That, he said, will be reserved for the barn-burner he plans to deliver on Wednesday after the Senate acquits him."It's going to be low-key," Trump said."Are you sure you want to call it 'low-key?'" Chuck Todd demanded—which was about as hardball as the questioning got.Samantha Bee Embarrasses Chuck Todd for Terrible Election TakeWhile Trump fielded earnest queries about troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the United States' recent confrontation with Iran ("Nobody knows how close we came to war," the president confided in an answer to Holt), nobody saw fit to challenge him on his regular attacks on members of the press the "enemy of the people," "scum," and other choice epithets.At one point Trump recalled that he had been an early donor to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's first House race, and added: "AOC is gonna run against him in the primary and she's gonna kick his ass," a lunch guest quoted the president as predicting.As for his potential Democratic opponents, he said that Bernie Sanders "is the nastiest and the smartest"—a compliment of sorts—and said he didn't understand the appeal of former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg, the nation's first out-gay major presidential candidate. Meanwhile he vowed to hammer Joe Biden "on Ukraine and Burisma."Trump also promised that the White House will spare no effort in blocking his former national security adviser John Bolton's book from publication; he noted that he took a chance and hired Bolton "when nobody else wanted him," and mocked Bolton's use of the honorific "ambassador" because "he couldn't even get confirmed; he was a recess appointment" to be George W. Bush's top diplomat at the United Nations, Trump pointed out.He said their relationship soured early on, in the midst of Trump's meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, after Bolton went on TV to announce that the U.S. favored "the Libyan model" in its dealings with Kim—that is, a scenario where North Korea's tyrant gives up his nuclear weapons, only to be killed anyway, like Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.In sum, at this White House lunch, a good time was had by all.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Iran to execute man accused of being 'CIA spy', with sentence to be carried out 'soon' Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:48 PM PST  The death sentence of an Iranian national accused of being a CIA spy has been approved by the supreme court of Iran, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic judiciary said during a press conference on Tuesday, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. The sentence will be carried out soon, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the judiciary spokesman, added.
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| On eve of impeachment verdict, Trump tees up State of Union Posted: 04 Feb 2020 12:50 PM PST  Stepping before the nation in extraordinary times, President Donald Trump on Tuesday will extol the "Great American Comeback" as he delivers his State of the Union address on the eve of his likely impeachment acquittal and in the aftermath of the chaotic first votes of the race to replace him. The first president to run for reelection after being impeached, Trump will argue that the nation's economic success is the chief rationale for a second term, according to speech excerpts released by the White House in advance. "In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America's destiny," Trump said in prepared remarks.
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| Yemeni rebels free detained Egyptian fishermen Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:51 PM PST ![Yemeni rebels free detained Egyptian fishermen]( "Yemeni rebels free detained Egyptian fishermen") Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen released dozens of Egyptian fishermen on Tuesday after detaining them for weeks on charges of trespassing into territorial waters. The 32 fishermen were ferried on a chartered flight home to Cairo from Yemen's rebel-held capital, according to the Houthi-run news agency. Immigration Minister Nabila Makram told Egypt's pro-government CBC Extra channel that the government had been trying to negotiate the release with Yemeni and Saudi authorities since mid-December.
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| UN takes no action on order against Myanmar on Rohingyas Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:27 PM PST ![UN takes no action on order against Myanmar on Rohingyas]( "UN takes no action on order against Myanmar on Rohingyas") The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday discussed the International Court of Justice's order that Myanmar must do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, but failed to agree on a statement. Myanmar's ally China as well as Vietnam, which is part of the regional Association of Southeast Nations along with Myanmar, objected, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.
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| Bloomberg doubles ad spending after chaos of Iowa caucuses Posted: 04 Feb 2020 12:34 PM PST  Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is doubling the already massive amount of money he will spend on advertising, an effort to lift his Democratic presidential bid and capitalize on the chaotic outcome of Monday's Iowa caucuses. An exact dollar figure was not provided, but Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, has already spent over $300 million on TV, radio and digital advertising, according to the ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics.
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| Coronavirus Crisis Shows China's Governance Failure Posted: 04 Feb 2020 11:55 AM PST  Wuhan's mayor blamed higher-ups. A senior disease control official blamed layers of bureaucracy. A top government expert blamed the public: The people, he said, simply didn't understand what he told them.As China grapples with a mysterious coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 420 people and sickened thousands, the country's 1.4 billion people are asking what went wrong. Senior officials are engaging in an unusually blunt display of finger pointing.So many officials have denied responsibility that some online users joke that they are watching a passing-the-buck competition. (It's "tossing the wok" in Chinese.)The Chinese people are getting a rare glimpse of how China's giant, opaque bureaucratic system works -- or, rather, how it fails to work. Too many of its officials have become political apparatchiks, fearful of making decisions that anger their superiors and too removed and haughty when dealing with the public to admit mistakes and learn from them."The most important issue this outbreak exposed is the local government's lack of action and fear of action," said Xu Kaizhen, a best-selling author who is famous for his novels that explore the intricate workings of China's bureaucratic politics."Under the high-pressure environment of anti-corruption campaign, most people, including senior government officials, only care about self-preservation," Xu said. "They don't want to be the first to speak up. They wait for their superiors to make decisions and are only accountable to their superiors instead of the people."The Chinese government appears to be aware of the problem. The Communist Party's top leadership acknowledged in a meeting Monday that the epidemic is "a major test of China's system and capacity for governance."Growing numbers of people are questioning the government's decisions as China enters a period of virtual shutdown. As the virus spread, officials in Wuhan and around the country withheld critical information, downplayed the threat and rebuked doctors who tried to raise the alarm. A reconstruction of the disease's spread by The New York Times showed that by not issuing earlier warnings, the Chinese government potentially lost the window to keep the disease from becoming an epidemic.The outbreak has undermined the myth that the Chinese political elites win assignments and promotion purely on merit. China has sold this system as its own unique innovation. Developing countries have sent thousands of their government officials to China to learn its model of governance, a political system that offers security and growth in return for submission to authoritarian rule.People in China are now questioning that premise. They are focusing much of their anger on Xi Jinping, China's top leader and the person many blame for creating a culture of fear and subservience within the Chinese government.Few people dare to question Xi openly, for fear of provoking censors or police. But after Xi disappeared from public in recent days, some social media users began asking euphemistically, "Where is that person?" They are also posting online and sharing pictures of former leaders at the site of past crises.Critics say quietly that, under Xi, the party began promoting loyal political cadres over technocrats -- the experts and skilled administrators who comprised the backbone of China's bureaucracy in 1990s and 2000s, when the country grew the fastest.Those officials could often be corrupt, but even the party's fiercest critics sometimes acknowledged that they got things done. Liu Zhijun, the former railway minister, is serving a lifetime sentence for taking bribes and abusing power. He also oversaw the creation of China's high-speed rail system, which vastly improved life in the country.The wok tossing in China stems in part from the tension between the technocrats, who hold a large number of positions with China's provincial and national disease control centers, and the political cadres -- the mayors, governors and the provincial party secretaries. The outbreak and lack of disclosure suggests the political cadres are winning. In fact, even the technocrats are becoming cadres because none of them had the courage to tell the public what they knew about the virus.Chinese officials are spending as much as one-third of their time on political studying sessions, a lot of which are about Xi's speeches. Political loyalty weighs much more in performance evaluations than before. Now the rule of thumb in Chinese officialdom seems to be demonstrating loyalty as explicitly as possible, keeping everything else vague and evading responsibility at all costs when things go wrong.The Chinese people may be paying the price. The failures span the system.Zhou Xianwang, Wuhan's mayor, said he didn't disclose the scale and danger of the epidemic earlier because he needed the authorization from higher up. But he could have done something without sharing much information, including telling the residents to wear masks, wash hands frequently and stop big gatherings such as the potluck banquet attended by over 40,000 families just a few days before his city of 11 million was locked down.When information began to dribble out, it was vague and misleading. In a series of online notices issued between Dec. 31 and Jan. 17, local officials disclosed they were treating pneumonia patients but didn't say when or how many.The National Health Commission, the ministry with the authority to declare an epidemic emergency, didn't issue its own notice about the outbreak until Jan. 19. But the notice essentially kicked blame back to local authorities. The first sentence cited a rule that required the commission to work with local officials on epidemic prevention.A top government health adviser, Wang Guangfa, who had reassured the public that the disease was controllable only to be sickened himself, said in an interview after he recovered that he had limited information at the time. He also defended his phrasing as a "misunderstanding" by the general public, saying most outbreaks of infectious diseases are controlled in the end.Local officials don't seem to have local people at the top of their list of priorities. In an interview with state television, Ma Guoqiang, Communist Party secretary of Wuhan, acknowledged that Wuhan residents "are a little anxious and a little nervous" and said that he would mobilize all party cells to comfort them. "But the most important comfort," he added, "came from Party Secretary Xi Jinping."Xu, the novelist, said Ma's remarks demonstrated how officials have more concern for pleasing their bosses than taking care of the people they allegedly serve."If they can rearrange the order in their hearts," Xu said, "we'll see a very different governance style."As they try to contain the spread, local governments are showing that they are better at looking busy than they are at finding a solution. Many are now finding ways to track down and even expel residents from Hubei province to keep the coronavirus from spreading. Tracking potential spreaders is sound policy, but punishing or persecuting them risks driving them underground, making it even harder to fight the outbreak.Even outside the hardest hit areas, local officials are showing they don't make rules with the well-being of the people in mind. A video that went viral across China showed a couple stuck on a bridge connecting Guizhou province to the city of Chongqing. The two governments had halted travel between them, and the couple -- she from Guizhou, he from Chongqing -- had no place to go.On social media, low-level cadres are complaining that they are receiving so many instructions from the higher-ups that they spend most of their time filling out spreadsheets instead of getting real work done. In a social media post headlined, "The Formalism Under the Mask," the author wrote, "Most people in the system don't do things to solve problems. They do things to solve responsibilities."After the epidemic, the Chinese leadership will have to punish a few officials, even severely, to save face and win back some credibility. But for people who are suffering from the epidemic and the failure of governance, the Communist Party may have a hard time winning them back."I know before long this country will go back to being a peaceful, prosperous society. We will hear many people screaming how proud they are of its prosperity and power," a Wuhan resident wrote on social media site Weibo. "But after what I have witnessed, I refuse to watch the applause and commendation."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| In virus outbreak, fretting over a name that might go viral Posted: 04 Feb 2020 11:17 AM PST  "Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?" said Trevor Hoppe, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who has studied the history of disease names. The name, which stands for 2019 novel coronavirus, has been assigned to the virus behind the outbreak of flu-like illnesses that started in China late last year. Scientists are still learning about the new virus, so it's hard to come up with a good name, Hoppe said.
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| Nearly 60 service members could be eligible for the the Purple Heart following Iran ballistic missile attack Posted: 04 Feb 2020 11:13 AM PST  If approved, 64 Purple Hearts for injuries sustained from the Iran ballistic missile strike would surpass the 47 Purple Hearts awarded to Marines from 2016 to 2018 supporting Operation Inherent Resolve — the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
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| What happened in Iowa and what's next after caucus mess Posted: 04 Feb 2020 10:44 AM PST  The political universe has been turned upside down by the failure of the Iowa caucuses. The Iowa Democratic Party says an app created to compile and report caucus results malfunctioned due to a "coding issue," delaying the count. The Iowa Democratic Party didn't roll the app out to its 1,678 caucus locations until a few hours before the meetings began Monday night.
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| UN chief warns 'a wind of madness is sweeping the globe' Posted: 04 Feb 2020 10:15 AM PST  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that "a wind of madness is sweeping the globe," pointing to escalating conflicts from Libya and Yemen to Syria and beyond. Guterres singled out Libya where he called the current offensives by the warring parties "a scandal" — coming soon after world powers and other key countries adopted a road map to peace in Berlin on Jan. 19 that called for respect for a U.N. arms embargo, an end to foreign interference in the fighting by rival governments and steps toward a cease-fire.
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| EU Seeks to Appease Macron With Enlargement, Future Course Plans Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:37 AM PST ![EU Seeks to Appease Macron With Enlargement, Future Course Plans]( "EU Seeks to Appease Macron With Enlargement, Future Course Plans") (Bloomberg) -- European Union government envoys in Brussels and the bloc's executive arm will seek to accommodate Emmanuel Macron's reform plans amid frustration over his drive to change how the bloc makes decisions and takes in new countries.The EU Commission will propose an overhaul Wednesday of the expansion process, after Macron demanded it, torpedoing a push to start accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia until the changes are done. The draft of the proposal seen by Bloomberg points to an aspirational push to focus on "fundamentals," such as the rule of law and functioning democratic institutions, in conditions attached to the acceptance of new members.The process of granting membership is already subject to prolonged negotiations that can take years or even decades, and conditional on regular assessments, while individual member states can block progress at each stage.By reaffirming the focus on "negative consequences" and "reversibility" if candidate countries backtrack on the required reforms, the proposal by the Commission is aimed at providing political cover to Macron to give the green light he denied in October for membership talks with the western Balkans.EU governments are wary of further delaying the start of accession talks, as the prospect of membership is seen as anchoring fragile Balkan states to a reform path. When Macron vetoed the process last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, usually measured, deployed the full power of her words to rebuke him.Europe's FutureOn another front opened by a brainchild of the French president, EU government envoys in Brussels will seek a common stance on the "Conference on the Future of Europe" -- a two-year-long deliberation intended to invigorate European unification.The concept is based on ideas laid out by the French President in 2017 from Pnyx, a hill that was the center of Athenian democracy almost 2,500 years ago, and later adopted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Diplomats involved in the discussions said the scope, structure and aims of the process are unclear, while EU institutions are at loggerheads over which one will be in the driver's seat. Most member states want to make it clear from the start that the Conference won't lead to changes to EU treaties, a toxic issue after the traumatic experiences at the start of the century, when citizens rejected treaty changes in referendums.France is leading a small group of member states that say Treaty changes shouldn't be excluded, according to a diplomat familiar with the deliberations, while Paris is also the main backer of ambitious institutional reforms, such as transnational lists of candidates for European elections.Macron's backers in Brussels say that the French President is the only EU leader pushing the bloc -- traditionally immersed in inertia -- to discuss its strategic direction. For critics, his unrealistic ambition is disrupting, rather than advancing the decision-making process.Past experience shows that pioneering proposals often hit a roadblock of competing national interests in Brussels. The latest example is Macron's idea for a joint euro-area budget, which -- after years of negotiations -- ended up as an agreement for a miniature financing instrument of less that 20 billion euros to be spread among the currency bloc's 19 economies over the next seven years.To contact the reporter on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor 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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| The Latest: DNC chair wants full accounting of Iowa problems Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:24 AM PST  Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez wants "absolute transparent accounting" of the technological meltdown that led to delayed results from Monday's leadoff Iowa caucuses. Perez said in a statement Tuesday that "what happened last night should never happen again." Saying it was "clear" the app used to tally caucus results failed, Perez called on the vendor to "provide absolute transparent accounting" of what happened. Nevada Democrats scrapped plans to use similar technology at their caucuses, coming several weeks from now.
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| WHO calls for improved data-sharing on virus, says sending team to China Posted: 04 Feb 2020 09:15 AM PST ![WHO calls for improved data-sharing on virus, says sending team to China]( "WHO calls for improved data-sharing on virus, says sending team to China") The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday he had written to all health ministers urging them immediately to improve data-sharing on coronavirus and said he would send a team of international experts to work with Chinese counterparts. Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the WHO Executive Board that some restrictions went against the U.N. agency's advice, and he told countries "not to over-react".
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| Brexit Bulletin: Where It Matters Most Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:28 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up here to get the Brexit Bulletin in your inbox every weekday.What's Happening? The places that put Prime Minister Boris Johnson into power are most at risk from the hardest of Brexits.Away from the political centers of the U.K. and Europe, where politicians and negotiators will argue over the post-Brexit settlement, actual communities will soon need to adapt to whatever future relationship is (or isn't) eventually agreed. Johnson has already taken a tough stance, saying he would be prepared to accept significant tariffs and trade barriers. Yet a glance at the electoral map shows he would be gambling with his own future if he follows through with that threat.The Conservatives won power last December by convincing people in traditionally Labour-supporting industrial districts to vote Tory, some for the first time in their lives. As Bloomberg's Joe Mayes and Sam Dodge make clear today, locals in those districts still rely overwhelmingly on the manufacturing jobs that would be at risk if Britain fails to secure a free-trade deal.Read the Full Piece: Where a Brexit Trade Deal Matters Most to Boris JohnsonIn 36 of the seats Johnson's Tories won from Labour in 2019, manufacturers employ more people than the Tory majority. If each of those districts returned to Labour at the next election in 2024, and all else remains equal, Johnson's majority would be slashed.Yet with voting season now underway in the U.S. (sort of) it's worth noting what's playing out across the Atlantic. Although President Donald Trump's trade war with China may be easing slightly, U.S. farmers waiting for a Chinese buying spree have been badly hit by the impasse. Nevertheless, as Trump prepares to deliver his election-year State of the Union address, Gallup puts the president's approval rating at 49%, a personal best. We're a long way from another election. But Johnson appears to share with Trump an ability to convince disenfranchised voters to back them in the face of political orthodoxy. If Trump wins re-election and the post-Brexit waters turn choppy, the prime minister may need to follow the president's lead.Beyond BrexitNo city hates its landlords like Berlin does. Who's up for expropriating some private property? Imported avocados beats native beef, every time. It's time to banish "eat local," say Bloomberg's Akshat Rathi. One traveler circled the world in 37 hours while the coronavirus reshaped international law around her.Brexit in BriefInto the Lead | Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, moved into the lead ahead of Ireland's Feb. 8 general election, a poll showed. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael fell to third place.Divergent Views | People who voted Leave in 2016 do not believe the U.K. should insist on its own regulatory regime after Brexit, but want certain standards maintained after transition, a new survey has found. What Next? | The U.K. government faces a host of challenges after Brexit, according to the UK in a Changing Europe thinktank. Several key policy planks will need to be refashioned, with the structure of the economy and the future of the Union on the agenda as well as trade talks, it says in a new report.Stars Align | It's time for Britain to get productive about solving its productivity crisis, says Bank of England policy maker Andrew Haldane. A "rare opportunity" has arisen to elevate the long-running issue to the top of the national agenda, he said.Building Up | The U.K.'s beleaguered construction industry got some relief last month: IHS Markit's index of building activity rose to 48.4, from 44.4 in December, although it spent ninth months running below the threshold that signals expansion.Brexiball | The world's most popular soccer league faces an uncertain player transfer market and concerns over assets held in British pounds after Brexit, the Wall Street Journal reports.'Good Riddance' | The European Union figure charged with bidding farewell to the U.K. wished her British counterpart "good riddance" instead of "good luck," the Financial Times reports. The comment was a genuine linguistic mistake, the newspaper says, and was taken in good humor by the outgoing U.K. ambassador, Sir Tim Barrow.Want to keep up with Brexit?You can follow us @Brexit on Twitter, and listen to Bloomberg Westminster every weekday. It's live at midday on Bloomberg Radio and is available as a podcast too. Share the Brexit Bulletin: Colleagues, friends and family can sign up here. For full EU coverage, try the Brussels Edition.For even more: Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access for our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.To contact the author of this story: Adam Blenford in London at ablenford@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Kay at ckay5@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US could learn how to improve election protection from other nations Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:19 AM PST  Hacking into voting machines remains far too easy. It is too soon to say for sure what role cybersecurity played in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, but the problems, which are still unfolding and being investigated, show how easily systemic failures can lead to delays and undermine trust in democratic processes. That's particularly true when new technology – in this case, a reporting app – is introduced, even if there's no targeted attack on the system. The vulnerabilities are not just theoretical. They have been exploited around the world, such as in South Africa, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Philippines. Successful attacks don't need the resources and expertise of national governments – even kids have managed it.Congress and election officials around the U.S. are struggling to figure out what to do to protect the integrity of Americans' votes in 2020 and beyond. The Iowa caucuses are run by political parties, not state officials, but many of the concepts and processes are comparable. A look at similar problems – and some attempts at solutions – around the world offers some ideas that U.S. officials could use to ensure everyone's vote is recorded and counted accurately, and that any necessary audits and recounts will confirm that election results are correct. As a scholar researching cybersecurity and internet governance for more than 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that only by working together across sectors, industries and nations can the people of the world make their democracies harder to hack and achieve some measure of what I and others call cyber peace. Electronic tampering is not newAs far back as 1994, an unknown hacker tried to alter the results of an election – but the effort failed, and Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa.A similar effort played out in 2014 when Russian-backed hackers targeted Ukraine, attempting to fake vote totals for the presidential election. They were caught just in time, but the sophistication of the attacks should have been seen as a shot across the bow for future elections in the U.S. and around the world. How has the US government responded?More than two-thirds of U.S. counties are using voting machines that are at least a decade old. Because many of these machines are running outdated operating systems, they are vulnerable to exploitation.The multi-pronged strategy used by the Kremlin to undermine the 2016 U.S. presidential election shared parallels with the election in Ukraine back in 2014, including the probing of insecure voting machines, compromising voter-registration lists and weaponizing social media to spread misinformation. To date, the U.S. response has been weak. True, the threats are complex, and partisan rancor hasn't made it any easier for officials to unite against them. Still, local, state and federal government agencies have made some progress. For instance, in 2018 Congress agreed to spend US$380 million to help states buy more secure voting machines. In December 2019, Congress and the president agreed to spend a further $425 million on election cybersecurity, which is in line with estimates for how much it would cost to replace digitally vulnerable paperless voting machines across the nation.These funds will allow more states to upgrade their voting equipment, and conduct post-election audits. But this is still less than a quarter of the amount Congress appropriated – nearly $4 billion – to upgrade U.S. voting systems after the confusion of the 2000 election.U.S. Cyber Command has been sharing information with local officials, as well as becoming more active such as by shutting down a Russian troll farm on Election Day 2018. Lessons from other nationsLike the United States, the European Union has also faced hacking attacks on election systems, including in the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. In response, the EU has increased cybersecurity requirements on election officials and infrastructure providers requiring things like more robust authentication procedures to help confirm voters' identities. It has also urged its members to use paper ballots and analog vote-counting systems to help ward off concerns over compromised voting machines.Nations around the world – including Germany and Brazil – that have used electronic voting machines are going back to paper ballots in part due to security and transparency concerns, while a 2019 court order requires paper trail audits in Indian elections.Other mature democracies, like Australia, do far more than the U.S. to protect the vote. Australians all use paper ballots, which are hand counted, and voting itself is mandatory so there are no issues over voting rights. The country's powerful Electoral Commission also sets nationwide standards and oversees the entire voting process, as opposed to the more decentralized U.S. approach. International initiativesThe problem is global, and in my view would benefit from an internationally coordinated solution among both advanced and emerging democracies. Many nations and interested businesses and organizations around the world say they want to join the fight. The G7 and the U.N. have issued statements emphasizing the importance of protecting democracy and securing voting machines.The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace – which specifically calls on its backers to "cooperate in order to prevent interference in electoral processes" by sharing intelligence – has more than 550 supporters, including 67 nations. The U.S. is part of the G7 and the U.N., but hasn't joined the Paris Call. Nevertheless, U.S. election officials could learn from other countries' experiences. Time is growing shortIn the U.S., states are already trying approaches that have worked in other countries, but federal rules have not yet caught up. Congress could encourage states to follow Colorado's example by banning paperless ballots, and requiring risk-limiting audits, which double-check statistically significant samples of paper ballots to check if official election results are correct. That would increase voter confidence that the outcomes were correct. Congress could similarly require the National Institute for Standards and Technology to update its standards for voting machines, which state and county election officials rely on when deciding which machines to purchase.The U.S. could also create a National Cybersecurity Safety Board to investigate cyberattacks on U.S. election infrastructure and issue reports after elections to help ensure that experts and the public alike are aware of the vulnerabilities and work to fix them.Democracy is a team sport. Scholars can also help federal, state and local governments secure the country's election system, by devising and testing possible improvements.Different approaches around the country may make the overall system more secure, but the diversity of potential problems means the election officials on the ground need help. There's still time to avoid a replay of South Africa 1994 or Ukraine 2014 in the 2020 U.S. elections.[ 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: * 4 ways to defend democracy and protect every voter's ballot * How the world's largest democracy casts its ballotsScott Shackelford is a principal investigator on grants from the Hewlett Foundation, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and the Microsoft Corporation supporting both the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance and the Indiana University Cybersecurity Clinic.
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| Democratic primary pivots to unpredictable New Hampshire Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:17 AM PST  New Hampshire rarely takes its cues from Iowa. "Everything we know is extremely encouraging," Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday after being endorsed by Jim Donchess, the mayor of Nashua. Bernie Sanders, whose campaign released its own caucus results with a claim of winning, wasn't expected to greet voters in the state until the evening.
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| Moving faith: Mexican town's saint feast lives in Minnesota Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:05 AM PST  For the thousands of migrants from the south Mexico town 2,200 miles away who have built new lives in Minnesota over the last two decades, throwing a wild, two-day bash for St. Paul's Catholic feast day in January is a crucial way to celebrate their roots and feel a bit more at home, closer to the families they left behind. "It's even more important because we brought it here," says Apolinar Morales, this year's steward of the celebration, who left Axochiapan in 1989. The festival here is especially important for those participants who can't go home for the month-long celebration in Axochiapan because of their immigration status.
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| US general slips into Iraq for talks to salvage relations Posted: 04 Feb 2020 08:04 AM PST  The top U.S. commander for the Middle East slipped quietly into Iraq Tuesday, as the Trump administration works to salvage relations with Iraqi leaders and shut down the government's push for an American troop withdrawal. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie became the most senior U.S. military official to visit since an American drone strike in Baghdad last month killed a top Iranian general, enraging the Iraqis. McKenzie met with Iraq leaders in Baghdad and then went to see American troops at al-Asad Air base, which was bombed by Iran last month in retaliation for the drone attack.
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| Nationalists in Rome cheer Brexit, honor Pope John Paul II Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:51 AM PST  European and American nationalists attending a conference Tuesday in Rome cheered Brexit, warned of left-wing "totalitarianism" and waxed nostalgic about St. John Paul II's papacy and the "glorious revolution" that brought down communism. Rising right-wing stars from Italy and France were keynote speakers, and conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban closed out the meeting. Organizer Christopher DeMuth drew applause when he blasted the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of political and business elites in Davos, Switzerland.
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| Official: 2nd student dies after truck hits Oklahoma runners Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:29 AM PST  A second suburban Oklahoma City high school student has died after a group of cross-country runners was struck by a pickup truck that authorities say was driven by man whose son was killed in a traffic crash over the weekend, a school official said Tuesday. Sophomore Yuridia Martinez, who had been hospitalized in critical condition since the Monday crash, has since died, Dustin Horstkoetter, director of safety and security at Moore Public Schools, said. Officials had previously said that senior Rachel Freeman was killed when the truck slammed into members of the school's cross-country team.
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| Senate so far split neatly along party lines on impeachment Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:26 AM PST  The Senate is so far cleaving neatly along party lines in advance of Wednesday's virtually certain votes to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachment charges, with just two or three undecided members even considering breaking with their party. A leading GOP moderate, Susan Collins of Maine, announced she will vote to acquit Trump, leaving Utah Sen. Mitt Romney as the only potential GOP vote to convict Trump of abusing his office and stonewalling Congress. Collins said "it was wrong" for Trump to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, but that Trump's conduct, however flawed, does not warrant "the extreme step of immediate removal from office." Collins voted to acquit former President Bill Clinton at his trial in 1999 .
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| Electric dream: Britain to ban new petrol and hybrid cars from 2035 Posted: 04 Feb 2020 07:10 AM PST  Britain will ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars from 2035, five years earlier than planned, in an attempt to reduce air pollution that could herald the end of over a century of reliance on the internal combustion engine. The step amounts to a victory for electric cars that if copied globally could hit the wealth of oil producers, as well as transform the car industry and one of the icons of 20th Century capitalism: the automobile itself. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to use the announcement to elevate the United Kingdom's environmental credentials after he sacked the head of a Glasgow U.N. Climate Change Conference planned for November known as COP26.
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| UN Shifts Tone in Seeing Desire to Bolster Shaky Libya Truce Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:43 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterLibya's warring rivals have shown a "genuine willingness" to transform the current truce into a more lasting one, a United Nations envoy said as a new round of talks got underway, in a distinct shift of tone from just five days ago."The two sides expressed their approval of the need to transform the truce into a permanent cease-fire agreement," Ghassan Salame said at UN-hosted negotiations in Geneva. The talks will focus on how to go about this, he added.Just last Thursday, Salame told the UN Security Council that an internationally brokered cease-fire was in "name only."Libya Truce in 'Name Only' as Foreign Troops and Arms Pour InThe Geneva talks are the latest effort to end the fiercest bout of fighting in the North African OPEC member since longtime leader Moammar Al Qaddafi's ouster in 2011. Five senior military officers are representing the internationally backed Tripoli government and another five have been dispatched by Khalifa Haftar, who touched off that fighting in April with an offensive on the capital.The violence has left more than 2,000 people dead and transformed the conflict into a proxy war between regional powers, with Haftar backed by Russian mercenaries, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the Tripoli government headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj supported militarily by Turkey. The country's oil output has since plunged to its lowest levels since the NATO-backed uprising against Qaddafi.The warring sides attended an international meeting in Berlin last month amid a tentative cease-fire. Both have accused the other of repeated violations.Condemning breaches of a UN arms embargo, Salame said there are currently 20 million pieces of weaponry in Libya and "that is enough.""The country does not need new equipment," he said.(Updates with comments by Salame starting in penultimate paragraph. An earlier version of this story removed an incorrect reference to resolving oil production disputes)To contact the reporter on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nayla Razzouk at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Michael GunnFor 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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| UK plans to ban new internal-combustion cars by 2035 at latest Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:37 AM PST  A ban on the sale of new gasoline, diesel, and even hybrid cars could go into effect in the UK as soon as 2035, under a new proposal by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The announcement came as Johnson's government announced its plans for the COP26 U.N. Climate Change Conference that the UK is hosting in November in Glasgow. "We have to deal with our CO2 emissions, and that is why the UK is calling for us to get to net zero as soon as possible, to get every country to announce credible targets to get there – that's what we want from Glasgow," Johnson said.
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| Iowa's coveted voting status in doubt after delay on results Posted: 04 Feb 2020 06:00 AM PST  Iowa's coveted position as the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest faces its most daunting challenge in light of problems that kept the state Democratic Party from reporting results. "With this reporting debacle, it may be the end," said Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic presidential campaign operative and veteran of multiple Iowa campaigns. Iowa Democratic Party officials, who run the contest, said Monday night that results were indefinitely delayed, not because of an outside hack but because of the malfunction of an app that was intended to ease the reporting of results from almost 1,700 precincts.
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| Putin remains coy on his future political plans Posted: 04 Feb 2020 05:44 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that a nationwide vote on constitutional changes he proposed wouldn't be used to extend his current term in office, but remained tight-lipped about his future political plans. Kremlin critics have seen Putin's amendments as part of his efforts to stay at the helm after his current presidential term expires in 2024. Asked during a meeting with students and teachers if the vote could be used to directly extend his term in office, Putin said it's not what he wants.
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| Sudanese Leader Backs Recognizing Israel in Historic Shift Posted: 04 Feb 2020 05:03 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sudan's military leader met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and agreed to work toward normalizing relations, in what would be a historic step for the Arab League member that's never officially recognized the Jewish state.The surprise meeting between Netanyahu and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's sovereign council, came Monday at the end of a visit by the Israeli leader to Uganda that was part of his latest drive to build ties in sub-Saharan Africa.Recognizing Israel, a key U.S. ally, could help Sudan's campaign to persuade Washington to remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, as the country edges toward democracy after longtime leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted last year. The initiative may also be a boost for Netanyahu's re-election bid, allowing him to tout a diplomatic victory ahead of the March 2 vote.U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo welcomed the meeting and "thanked General al-Burhan for his leadership in normalizing ties with Israel." Sudan is being run by a joint civilian-military administration until elections slated for 2022 and it wasn't immediately clear if all participants agreed with the step.Information Minister Faisal Saleh said the government hadn't been notified or consulted and would seek clarification. No government of Muslim-majority Sudan since independence in 1956 has officially recognized Israel. Soldiers from Sudan have fought in Arab wars against Israel, while the capital, Khartoum, was the scene of a 1967 Arab League summit that famously declared the so-called "Three No's": no peace, no recognition and no negotiations.Sudan, which Bashir ruled for three decades until his overthrow during mass protests in April, had already begun shifting its Middle Eastern alliances. Long an ally of both Iran and Saudi Arabia, the North African nation in 2015 dramatically reduced ties with the Islamic Republic to support the Saudi war against Yemeni rebels, supplying thousands of troops. Israeli officials had previously identified Sudan, which under Bashir espoused a form of Islamist government, as a conduit for Iranian weapons bound for Israel's enemies.Israel, Sudan and the U.S.'s histories have been intertwined before. In 1984-1985, Israeli intelligence operatives began secretly airlifting Ethiopian Jews to Israel from Sudanese refugee camps. When the covert operation was revealed, Sudan ended it, but later ceded to pressure from the U.S. to allow it to resume with American military aircraft. The Israeli operation was dramatized in a 2019 Netflix film, 'The Red Sea Diving Resort.'Sudanese ReactionsIn Sudan, the move met condemnation from the Communist Party, a prominent former member of Bashir's National Congress Party and other Islamist factions. Some leading political activists also decried the statements, although a few voiced support.The Israeli move is part of a wider initiative to normalize relations with Arab and Muslim-majority states, including some in the Persian Gulf, adding them to Jordan and Sudan's neighbor, Egypt, with which Israel already has ties. It comes as Netanyahu is in a fight for his political life, dogged by corruption charges and consecutive failures to form a government after back-to-back elections last year.The Ugandan visit also included talks with President Yoweri Museveni's government on opening embassies and potential direct flights between Tel Aviv and Uganda.The Israel premier last visited the East African nation in 2016, four decades after an Israeli raid on Uganda's Entebbe airport to rescue Israeli hostages held by Palestinian hijackers. Netanyahu's brother, Yonatan, was killed in the 1976 operation.Uganda and Israel already cooperate in sectors including agriculture, security, health and information technology, Museveni said in a statement.(Updates with some Sudanese reactions in eighth paragraph)\--With assistance from Jon Herskovitz, Zaid Sabah and Mohammed Alamin.To contact the reporters on this story: Ivan Levingston in Tel Aviv at ilevingston@bloomberg.net;Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Jon Morgan, Gregory MottFor 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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| U.K. Carmakers Blast Johnson’s Plan to Hasten Demise of Gasoline Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:59 AM PST ![U.K. Carmakers Blast Johnson's Plan to Hasten Demise of Gasoline]( "U.K. Carmakers Blast Johnson's Plan to Hasten Demise of Gasoline") (Bloomberg) -- U.K. automakers denounced Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to kill off petrol and diesel cars five years earlier than previously announced, saying the target is unlikely to be achieved."A date without a plan will merely destroy value today," Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief Mike Hawes said Monday after Johnson revealed the bid to eliminate fossil-fuel autos including hybrids by 2035. The goal is one of the most ambitious to be set in any country.Fully electric vehicles, while seeing an increase in demand, accounted for just 38,000 of the 2.3 million cars sold in the U.K. last year, according to figures from the trade group. That's despite the ever-increasing range of models available without an internal combustion engine.Industry investment by itself won't be enough to encourage electric sales, with Britain requiring a more competitive business environment as well as improvements to a "woefully inadequate" charging network, the SMMT said.U.K. car production dropped to the lowest level in a decade in 2019 as uncertainty over Brexit dented demand. With the country now out of the European Union, carmakers are lobbying for a trade agreement that will allow them to carry on building autos there without tariffs or border disruption.To contact the reporter on this story: Siddharth Philip in London at sphilip3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Jasper, Andrew NoëlFor 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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| EU rejects Trump Mideast plan amid annexation concerns Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:57 AM PST  The European Union on Tuesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal for securing peace in the Middle East and expressed concern about Israel's plans to annex more Palestinian land. Trump's plan, which was unveiled last week, would foresee the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but it falls far short of minimal Palestinian demands and would leave sizable chunks of the occupied West Bank in Israeli hands.
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| Lebanese-American who worked for Israel charged with murder Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:22 AM PST  A military investigative judge charged a Lebanese-American man with murder and torture of Lebanese citizens Tuesday, crimes he allegedly committed during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, judicial officials said. Amer Fakhoury is accused of working as a senior warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by an Israel-backed Lebanese militia.
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| President: Turkey won't allow more ground to Syria in Idlib Posted: 04 Feb 2020 04:09 AM PST  Turkey's president said Tuesday his country won't allow Syrian forces to gain additional territory in a northern Syrian province, Turkish media reported, a day after clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces killed soldiers on both sides. Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments came as Syrian forces reached the western gate of the rebel stronghold of Saraqeb in Idlib province in the north, while the U.N. announced that more than half a million people have fled their homes since Dec. 1, because of the offensive.
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| In blessing annexation, Trump erodes an international norm Posted: 04 Feb 2020 03:40 AM PST  Annexation, at its heart, is a byproduct of conflict. Certainly not under international law, which describes it as the forcible acquisition of territory by one state at the expense of another. The United Nations made it illegal after World War II.
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| Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day Posted: 04 Feb 2020 03:30 AM PST ![Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day]( "Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day") (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every morning? Sign up hereMore warnings as coronavirus fallout worsens, Iowa keeps us waiting for vote result and oil recovers some ground on OPEC talks. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.Getting worseThe total number of coronavirus cases in China approached 20,500 with 425 deaths, while Hong Kong reported the second fatality outside the mainland. President Xi Jinping warned that the outbreak imperiled social stability in the world's most populous country. The People's Bank of China added liquidity to the market for a second day as the risks to the economy from the virus show little sign of abating. Casinos in Macau will close for 15 days, flight cancellations continue to mount and the list of companies warning about the effect on their bottom line grows longer. Can't countVoting in the Democratic presidential race got off to an inauspicious start in Iowa where new technology introduced to help make the process more transparent produced results that contained "inconsistencies." The party now says results will be announced at an unspecified point later today. Ahead of the official result, Pete Buttigieg said he was victorious, while Bernie Sanders's campaign released a ranking showing Sanders in first place. On the Republican side, President Donald Trump topped the GOP selection with 97% of the vote.OPECTechnical experts from the OPEC+ coalition are meeting in Vienna today to evaluate the impact from the virus outbreak on demand for oil. Demand for crude products in China appears to have plunged by 20% as cities are quarantined and factory production halted. Saudi Arabia has been pushing for a meeting to consider new production cuts to bolster oil prices in the face of the drop in demand. In the market this morning, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for March delivery was trading at $50.77 by 5:45 a.m. Eastern Time, recovering from yesterday's plunge below $50 as investors now see increasing chances of further reductions in output. Markets riseChinese stocks did not have a repeat of yesterday's sell-off which is helping global equities make back some ground. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.1% while Japan's Topix index closed 0.7% higher. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index had risen 1% by 5:45 a.m. with mining and energy stocks the best performers. S&P 500 futures pointed to a strong open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.575% and gold slipped.Coming up…At 10:00 a.m., U.S. factory orders and the final print of durable goods orders for December are published. Among the companies reporting earnings today are Ford Motor Co., Walt Disney Co. and ConocoPhillips Co. President Donald Trump will deliver his annual State of the Union address this evening, with the speech likely to take credit for the strong economy as he seeks to move past the impeachment battle.What we've been readingThis is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours.Odd Lots: This is how to use fiscal stimulus to stave off the next recession. Coronavirus forces world's largest work-from-home experiment. CFA's first exam is getting shorter, more frequent and electronic. No city hates its landlords like Berlin does. Behind Amazon's HQ2 fiasco: Jeff Bezos was jealous of Elon Musk. Clean power so cheap a staunch defender of U.S. coal went green. Self-driving cars have an ice problem. To contact the author of this story: Lorcan Roche Kelly in Dublin at lrochekelly@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Cecile Gutscher at cgutscher@bloomberg.net, Sid VermaFor 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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| Iowa ‘Train Wreck’ Gives Trump an Opening Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:46 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.The Iowa caucuses have conditioned political watchers to be on guard for surprises. But yesterday's was still a jaw dropper.A technological disaster took a contest to refine an unwieldy presidential field and turned it into a political debacle. It exposes Democrats to accusations they aren't organized enough to win back the White House in November.The Iowa Democratic Party was unable to publish results after discovering "inconsistencies" in reporting from some precincts. It said tallies may be released some time today but gave no firm timeline.As Tyler Pager, Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou and Jennifer Epstein write, that's left no springboard into the next round of contests, starting with New Hampshire a week from today.In the void, candidates began delivering versions of their post-caucus victory speeches, and several campaigns leaked unverified internal data to claim strong showings.President Donald Trump and his allies ridiculed the chaos and used it to try to stoke divisions, suggesting the party was seeking to "fix" the results. Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, called it "the sloppiest train wreck in history."The timing couldn't be better for Trump, who'll get an opportunity tonight to crow over the misstep — while looking especially presidential — during his annual State of the Union address, which falls on the eve of his all-but-certain acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.At least so far, Trump appears to be the clearest winner out of Iowa.Global HeadlinesHong Kong casualty | Hong Kong reported a death from the coronavirus, confirming the second fatality outside mainland China, where the number of cases has topped 20,000. The spread can remain "minimal and slow" if the virus is fought at the source and nations cooperate, the World Health Organization said.President Xi Jinping told a rare meeting of the Communist Party's powerful Politburo Standing Committee that the virus could affect social stability.Euro losers | The head of Italy's surging right-wing party says the European Union must compensate members that suffered from adopting the euro. Giorgia Meloni, an increasingly influential player in Italian politics, told John Follain and Alessandro Speciale that while she doesn't favor quitting the currency, which she called "a Deutsche Mark with a new name," the EU needs to help "the ones that have lost."Changing fortunes | Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces parliament this week after a summer from hell that has damaged his popularity. As Jason Scott explains, an unprecedented wildfire season has increased pressure on Morrison to abandon his pro-coal agenda, while a cabinet member resigned over a breach of ministerial standards. There's also disunity within his junior coalition partner.Muscular diplomacy | Russia is waging an increasingly assertive campaign at the United Nations to fend off scrutiny of its actions in Syria, David Wainer reports. It held up UN budget talks over a $17 million line item to investigate human-rights violations in the conflict and stared down western powers over aid corridors into Syria. As Western allies struggle to respond, UN diplomats say Russia is increasingly confident about exercising its power.Confusing signals | No one expected an orthodox governing style when Argentine President Alberto Fernandez swept to power on a promise to end austerity and free-market policies. But as Patrick Gillespie explains, his first month in office has produced some head-scratchers — like ditching economic forecasts because they damage credibility. Investors still don't know how he plans to dig his way out of a $311 billion debt hole. Yet the government says it has a plan to wrap up talks with creditors by the end of March.What to WatchTrump plans to use the State of the Union address to try to move past his impeachment and make his case for re-election by taking credit for a strong economy, newly signed trade deals and a crackdown on immigration. Brazil's Congress resumes work this week, with at least 10 proposals to boost public finances and spur growth either already in the chamber or about to be submitted, testing lawmakers' appetite for additional reforms under President Jair Bolsonaro. Malawi's Constitutional Court ordered fresh elections within five months after annulling the results of a presidential vote last year that the opposition said was rigged.Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... North Korea under Kim Jong Un has focused on developing more advanced bombs, and he may now try to make them harder to find. Recent North Korean reports are fueling speculation that a nuclear weapons-capable submarine may be the "new strategic weapon" he promised to unveil this year. While such a vessel would probably be noisy and unable to go far without being tracked, it may be enough to serve Kim's needs. \--With assistance from Karl Maier and Anthony Halpin.To contact the author of this story: Kathleen Hunter in London at khunter9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor 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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| UN envoy hopes Libya talks will stem influx of foreign arms Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:34 AM PST  The U.N.'s special representative for Libya said he hopes cease-fire talks that began Tuesday between the country's warring sides will result in a deal that will convince foreign powers to stop pouring in weapons. Ghassan Salame, head of the United Nations support mission in Libya, lamented that an arms embargo has been "incessantly" violated since the fall of longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, it's backed by Turkey and to a lesser degree Qatar and Italy.
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| Iran Upholds Death Sentence for Man Convicted of Spying for U.S. Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:33 AM PST ![Iran Upholds Death Sentence for Man Convicted of Spying for U.S.]( "Iran Upholds Death Sentence for Man Convicted of Spying for U.S.") (Bloomberg) -- Iran upheld the death sentence given to an Iranian national found guilty of working for U.S. intelligence.Amir Rahimpour "was a CIA spy who was paid handsomely and tried to pass part of Iran's nuclear information to the American service," judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili said on state television on Tuesday.The Supreme Court maintained the conviction and sentencing of Rahimpour, who will be executed in the near future, he said.Iran said in July it had sentenced to death several citizens accused of spying on Iran's military and nuclear program as part of a CIA-trained network. U.S. officials dismissed the claims.Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have since spiraled further, culminating in President Donald Trump's order to kill a top Iranian general, and Tehran's retaliatory missile strikes on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops.To contact the reporter on this story: Arsalan Shahla in Tehran at ashahla@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Paul AbelskyFor 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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| Meeting between Sudan leader, Netanyahu debated in Sudan Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:25 AM PST  A surprise meeting between Sudan's leader and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stirred controversy in Sudan on Tuesday, with the government saying it wasn't notified ahead of time and critics lambasting the talks on social media. Others s aid Monday' s meeting would improve Sudan's standing with the United States and help Khartoum shed its pariah image. For Israel, it was a major diplomatic breakthrough with a Muslim-majority African state, two days after the Arab League rejected President Donald Trump's Mideast plan.
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| The Crazy Coronavirus ‘Cures’ on the Chinese Web Include Trump’s Secret ‘Super-Drug’ Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:47 AM PST  NANJING, China—China's rulers are now calling the coronavirus epidemic a "major test of China's system and capacity for governance" and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is warning against any "lack of boldness" fighting it. But infections are rampant, the death toll is still mounting, and the country is increasingly isolated by a world community afraid this could become a pandemic. With no vaccine, hospitals overcrowded, and a dearth of solid information about how to treat the flu-like disease, what are China's 1.4 billion people (or the rest of us) supposed to do?QAnon-ers' Magic Cure for Coronavirus: Just Drink Bleach!The answers have come on the internet: stay away from your pet dog, gargle salt water, fumigate with vinegar, take a potion made from flowers, and smoke a lot. Yes, fake news has gone viral in the fight against the virus, which you'd expect. But the picture is complicated by the Chinese media's advocacy of traditional Chinese medicine, and some half-baked reporting that credits U.S. President Donald Trump with possession of a "super drug" he'll be willing to share real soon.Chinese citizens hungry for any kind of protection against the disease have been posting and re-posting dubious reports about miracle cures and alternative medicine on the main Chinese social networks: the microblog Weibo and the chat app Weixin.In a country where many hundreds of millions of people are currently holed up inside, on break from work, and thirsty for any new information about the deadly virus, such bad reporting and fake news that goes viral can provoke some frenzied side effects. After People's Daily published an article claiming that scientists researching the novel coronavirus found shuanghuanglian oil, a traditional Chinese medicine concocted from three flowers, was effective treating it, believers in the efficacy of traditional medicine, or TCM, flocked to drug stores and bought up all of it they could find.Sales and hype were such that the stock price of one producer, Fushen Pharmaceutical Co., soared by 120 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchanges as markets opened February 3. For a brief few minutes, founder and chairman and majority stakeholder Cao Changcheng was a billionaire, richer on paper than Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei, until the speculative rush died down and the price fell back to its opening level. Even so, at 8 Hong Kong dollars a share it's worth twice what it was two weeks ago.And while shuanghuanglian, which includes Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese skullcap, and forsythia suspensa and comes in tablet form as well as oil, might not be as dangerous to its users as drinking bleach (a "cure" recommended by QAnon conspiracy theorists in the United States) or consuming the dung and urine of cows, recommended by a swami in India, the injectable form can cause anaphylactic shock if administered to pregnant women or young children. Although many Chinese publications claim that shuanghuanglian has been shown to be effective against influenza, respiratory illnesses, and a variety of ailments, they did have to report that there is no evidence to suggest it does anything against coronavirus.Young Chinese laugh at the drama over shuanghuanglian. The Chinese characters used look and sound similar to the characters for double egg yolk lotus seed paste moon cake (shuanghuang lianrong yuebing), prompting the joke that after shuanghuanglian is sold out, people should buy moon cake. Consumption of all manner of TCM products is largely concentrated among their elders. When it is used, it is mostly as a preventative measure in addition to, not instead of, modern medicine. But various herbal products are hardly the only less-than-scientific solutions being offered.Many viral messages advise people to swish diluted salt water around in their mouth before and after leaving the house as a means to kill the virus. This advice sometimes is attributed falsely to Dr. Zhong Nanshan, who discovered SARS in 2003. While salt water mouthwashes are sometimes used as a home remedy for sore throats or colds, they would do nothing against coronavirus, as multiple Chinese websites have noted.Other false rumors about the virus claim it is spread by dogs, or that hanging clothes outside can disinfect them. Combining multiple bullshit ideas, one Chinese blogger wrote, "It's a disease carried by canines and spread to nearby dogs, dog-to-dog, then dog-to-human. Dogs do not get sick, but humans get sick. After humans get sick, they spread it to dogs, and the cycle continues. … So, people must stay away from dogs. Families who raise dogs must keep their dogs inside the house, and you cannot play with your dog. … Before going out, spray alcohol on your head and clothes. When you return home, wipe your hands, cell phone, and belongings with alcohol. Hang your coat on the open-air balcony to air it out, and gargle diluted salt water."Some of the methods of prevention have to be jokes. One post claimed that smoking prevents all varieties of coronavirus because the oil from smoke coats one's lungs at a "nanometer" level, preventing coronavirus from striking the lung's cells, almost like your lungs are wearing a "nanometer mask" at the cellular level. One piece of outright fake news was debunked by official national-level tabloid Global Times Monday afternoon. The false news, shared by a large number of Weibo users on February 2, asserted that there was an "American super drug" that could cure diseases caused by coronavirus and that President Donald Trump was going to fast-track its proliferation to China.But the story is a little more complicated than smoking and puppy hoaxes. "Real highly effective drug has come out. It has gone through America's process for effective medicines. Trump called on America's Centers for Disease Prevention and Control to publicly release the formulation. I hope our researchers don't continue to be obsessed with huoxiang zhengqi/hyssop oral oil for vital energy [another Chinese medicine] and shuanghuanglian, and instead quickly try this medicine," one variation said.The storyline shares much in common with pro-Trump posts swimming around right-wing corners of the American blogosphere. There's a simple answer being hidden from the public, and perhaps an exaggeration of some vacuous statement Trump uttered without thinking, about which conspiracy theorists will fill in the blanks. What Trump did say in an interview with CNBC on January 22 was that, "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be fine. … We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well."Trump never said anything about America having any kind of secret or fast-track drug. The drug in question, remdesivir, has not been proven effective yet. It was previously tested as a treatment for Ebola in the Congo and performed worse than competitors, but its manufacturers say it has been useful against SARS and MERS, which also are coronaviruses.China Arrested Doctors Who Warned About Coronavirus Outbreak. Now Death Toll's Rising, Stocks Are Plunging.The origin of the Chinese fake news apparently can be traced back to a post on January 29 by the Chinese website Science Net. That piece summarized Jon Cohen's article in Science, published on January 27, about potential existing drug combinations that might work against coronavirus, before adding its own exaggerations and rhetorical flourishes—the "super drug" moniker. In reality, Cohen's article notes the apparent effectiveness of remdesivir in a study of mice, and cites a microbiologist agreeing that it is the "most promising drug," while emphasizing that it is unproven and not available in China.Gilead, the California-based maker of remdesivir, has issued a statement that the company is in "active discussions with researchers and clinicians in the United States and China regarding the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and the potential use of remdesivir as an investigational treatment." Whether or not remdesivir ultimately is made available, and whether it proves effective, does not hinge on Trump or the CDC, but on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, Gilead shares shot up 5 percent.Cohen, who has three decades of experience as a writer for Science and whose writing on coronavirus has been increasingly cited on Weibo, said by email, "I hear from people all over the world, every day, including people from China. Many have questions I cannot answer. Some are pushing their own theories. Some want me to play doctor and want medical advice, which I cannot give. Some are just worried and want accurate information."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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| UK to ban new petrol car sales from 2035 Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:34 AM PST  Britain will bring forward a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2035, including hybrids, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to announce on Tuesday. Johnson was to make the announcement at an event launching the 2019 United Nations Climate Change conference, COP26, which will be held in Glasgow in November. The changes bring forward the ban by five years -- and now include hybrid vehicles.
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| Iran to execute alleged spy who gave nuclear secrets to CIA Posted: 04 Feb 2020 01:07 AM PST  Iran said Tuesday that its top court confirmed a death sentence for an Iranian man convicted of spying for the CIA, with state media alleging that he had shared details of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program with the American spy agency. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili identified the purported spy as Amir Rahimpour and said he would be executed soon. Esmaili did not elaborate on what Rahimpour was accused of doing, nor on his age or background.
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| Buttigieg, Sanders lead as Iowa releases partial results Posted: 04 Feb 2020 12:59 AM PST  The Iowa Democratic Party released partial results of its kickoff presidential caucus after a daylong delay late Tuesday showing former Midwestern Mayor Pete Buttigieg and progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the opening contest of the party's 2020 primary season. The results followed 24 hours of chaos as technical problems marred the complicated caucus process, forcing state officials to apologize and raising questions about Iowa's traditional place atop the presidential primary calendar. It was too early to call a winner based on the initial results, but Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar were trailing in the tally of State Delegate Equivalents, according to data released for the first time by the state Democratic Party nearly 24 hours after voting concluded.
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| Europeans Should Say Thank You to Boris Johnson Posted: 04 Feb 2020 12:49 AM PST ![Europeans Should Say Thank You to Boris Johnson]( "Europeans Should Say Thank You to Boris Johnson") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- One surprising knock-on effect of the U.K.'s departure from the European Union, which became official last week, was to bind the bloc's 27 remaining members closer together. The British had expected the red-carpet treatment from national governments desperate to keep selling Italian prosecco, German cars and French wine. They were instead shown the door by a united EU more focused on preserving the integrity of the single market, avoiding a return to a hard border in Ireland and settling the U.K.'s bill.While you'd be hard-pressed to describe the EU as united on other issues, such as the upcoming budget, enlargement policy or fiscal harmonization, the solidarity around Brexit is still there. The bloc's top negotiator Michel Barnier, once dismissed as a has-been but now the closest thing Brussels has to a rock star, is leading the charge for a regulatory "level playing field" to govern any future trade deal with the U.K. — backed by similar calls from politicians in France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. National priorities such as fisheries for France and Gibraltar for Spain have become European ones.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been quick to accuse Brussels of overplaying its hand. His response to demands for commitments on labor, the environment and state-aid rules has been to threaten a bare-bones "Australia" deal — what's basically close to no deal at all. That's a calculated move to divide and conquer EU member states facing tariffs on goods worth some 47 billion euros ($52 billion). Yet these threats are more likely to remind the Europeans why they should keep sticking together. The EU feels both existentially imperiled by Brexit and innately more powerful as a trading power. The more Johnson dismisses food-safety fears as "mumbo-jumbo" or mocks state aid as a purely foreign addiction, the more the EU will view the U.K. not as Australia, nor Johnson's preferred alternative of Canada, but more like Mexico as seen through the eyes of Donald Trump: A top trade partner that's also a dumping threat. Johnson's protestations that Britain has a higher minimum wage than most EU states won't fix the lack of trust motivating Brussels to take U.S.-style steps to protect the bloc's welfare. "The integrity of the single market has never been, and will never be, negotiable," Barnier said last month.While the worry is always there that the common front will eventually crumble — say with a side-deal brokered to protect one member's interests over those of the 27 all together — it hasn't happened yet for a few reasons. Professor Thierry Chopin of Lille's Universite Catholique points to three drivers of unity: An attachment to the single market that's shared even by very different member states; public opinion that's more positive on the EU and less keen on politicians calling to leave the bloc; and the power imbalance between the U.K.'s 60 million consumers and the EU's 450 million. It's hard to see how Johnson can overcome the latter unless he knocks a U.S. trade deal out of the park.Preserving unity is also a way to preserve global influence. As a regulatory superpower, one that relies on trade deals and soft power to export its rules, Brussels is keen to ensure that having a U.K.-shaped gap in its single market won't poke holes in flagship rules such as GDPR for data privacy or MiFID II for financial markets. This ability to influence regulation outside the single market is known as the "Brussels Effect," a term coined by Columbia Law School's Professor Anu Bradford, whose latest book argues that Brexit will likely strengthen the EU's hand. Brexit has put both the U.K. and the EU's dreams of regulatory autonomy on a collision course.To be sure, there is always the risk of taking too tough a position in a negotiation, or of becoming overconfident. Brussels will have to bear in mind its own need to stay close to the U.K., for access to the City of London's markets and to defense and security partnerships. The economic cost of an abrupt return to tariffs would unleash a race for state support. It's not clear the EU is ready for that.Right now, though, there's no reason to call for a climbdown. The 11-month deadline for these talks doesn't play in Johnson's favor, and the U.K. and EU economies aren't likely to be any less intertwined at the end of this year than at the start of it. The rhetorical saber-rattling conceals room for compromise on both sides. With the U.S. and China increasingly assertive on the world stage, Johnson's antics mustn't reverse Brussels' Brexit togetherness.To contact the author of this story: Lionel Laurent at llaurent2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked 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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| Holocaust survivor seeks teens to bear witness for future Posted: 04 Feb 2020 12:41 AM PST  The girls and boys in the room were just a little older than Victor Perahia was when he was finally freed in 1945, his body wracked with tuberculosis and typhus, his mind anguished by the suffering and death he had seen. After 40 years of self-imposed silence, he now returns time and again to bear witness at Drancy, the transit center from where the French government deported tens of thousands of Jews into the hands of Nazis. "From the day of my arrest to the day of my liberation, I will tell you my story," Perahia said.
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