Tag: on Monday

Indonesia backtracks on unconditional release of cleric linked to Bali bombing

January 22, 2019

By Kanupriya Kapoor and Agustinus Beo Da Costa

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s president said on Tuesday a radical Muslim cleric linked to the 2002 Bali bombings would only be released from jail if he pledged loyalty to the state and its ideology, after news he would be freed unconditionally sparked criticism.

President Joko Widodo had declared last week that Abu Bakar Bashir, 81, would be freed on humanitarian grounds, citing his age and poor health.

A legal adviser to the president had said the cleric would be granted unconditional release.

But Widodo said in a statement on Tuesday it would be “conditional release”, a day after the chief security minister said the decision was being reviewed.

“Conditions have to be fulfilled like loyalty to the unitary state of Indonesia, to the Pancasila. That is one of the very basic conditions,” said Widodo

Convicts eligible for early release are required to pledge loyalty to the state and its secular ideology, known as Pancasila, and not to repeat their crimes.

But Bashir’s lawyers say he has refused to do that.

Bashir was the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an Islamist group linked to al Qaeda blamed for the 2002 bombing of nightclubs on Bali island that killed more than 200 people, most of them tourists, including 88 Australians.

He was convicted in 2010 under anti-terrorism laws for links to militant training camps in Aceh province and jailed for 15 years.

Although linked to the Bali attacks and a bombing at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel in 2003, Bashir was never convicted for them and denied those ties. [reut.rs/1qNBwvC]

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, speaking before Widodo set out conditions for Bashir’s release, urged Indonesia not to show him leniency.

“We have been very clear about the need to ensure that as part of our joint counter-terrorism efforts … that Abu Bakar Bashir would not be in any position or in any way able to influence or incite anything,” Morrison told reporters on Monday.

SUSPECTED POLITICAL MOTIVE

Widodo has also come under fire at home over the possible release. Critics have accused him of trying to win over religious conservatives ahead of a presidential election set for April 17 in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

Some members of the ruling coalition, including officials in Widodo’s party, fear Bashir’s release could alienate moderate Muslim and non-Muslim voters.

“Everyone is asking: ‘How can we possibly allow this?’,” said an official from Widodo’s Democratic Party of Struggle.

“Now it’s about how many votes we will lose, not gain.”

Most opinion polls have given Widodo a double-digit lead over rival Prabowo Subianto, a retired general who had also contested the presidency in 2014.

Opponents and hardline Islamists have repeatedly attacked Widodo’s Islamic credentials. During the 2014 campaign for the presidency, he had to battle false rumors he was a communist.

In a move to shore up Muslim support this time, Widodo picked for his running mate an Islamic cleric.

Still, some analysts doubted whether releasing Bashir early would win Widodo many conservative voters.

Security and government officials, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, said they backed the plan to release Bashir to avoid the risk of him dying as a martyr in jail, but felt doing so without conditions was risky.

Another official said the government was considering letting Bashir out of jail but placing him under house arrest.

Indonesia-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones told Reuters that waiving the requirement for Bashir to pledge loyalty to the state and secular state ideology would have set a dangerous precedent.

“It risks turning him into even more of a hero because it’s like he has succeeded in defying the state,” she said, speaking before Widodo set conditions on the release.

“The end result is that Widodo ends up looking weak, out-manoeuvred and poorly advised.”

Bill McNeil, an survivor of the 2002 bombings, told The Australian newspaper that he found the prospect of Bashir’s release hard to understand.

“It seems sort of crazy they will execute people for drug offences but allow this guy to go free,” McNeil, 43, said.

(Additional reporting by Ed Davies and Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel)

Opposition leader pushes for parliament vote on new Brexit referendum

January 22, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) – British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn moved a step closer to paving the way for another referendum on European Union membership by trying to use parliament to grab control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.

Since May’s divorce deal with the EU was rejected by 432-202 lawmakers last week, the biggest defeat in modern British history, lawmakers have been trying to plot a course out of the crisis, yet no option has the majority support of parliament.

Labour put forward an amendment seeking to force the government to give parliament time to consider and vote on options to prevent a “no deal” exit including a customs union with the EU, and “a public vote on a deal”.

“It is time for Labour’s alternative plan to take center stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote,” said Corbyn, who put his name to the amendment.

It was the first time the Labour leadership had put forward in parliament the possibility of a second vote, which was welcomed by some opponents of Brexit.

However, the party said it did not mean it supported another referendum and lawmakers cautioned that the amendment would not garner the support of parliament.

Clarity from London is some way off: lawmakers have so far put forward six amendments with proposals for a delay to Brexit, a new vote and even for parliament to grab control of the process. They will vote on the next steps on Jan. 29.

“WORST CASE SCENARIO”

Beyond the intrigues of British politics, the future of Brexit remains deeply unpredictable with options ranging from a disorderly exit that would spook investors across the world to a new referendum that could reverse the whole process.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told CNBC on Tuesday that a no-deal Brexit was “obviously the worst case scenario”.

Ever since the United Kingdom voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU in June 2016, Britain’s leaders have repeatedly failed to reach a consensus on how to leave the EU.

May on Monday proposed tweaking her deal, a bid to win over rebel Conservative lawmakers and the Northern Irish party which props up her government, but Labour said May was in denial about the crushing defeat of her plans.

She refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit, warning that another referendum would strengthen the hand of those seeking to break up the United Kingdom and could damage social cohesion by undermining faith in democracy.

With May’s Brexit policy in tatters, lawmakers in the British parliament are trying to wrest control of Brexit, though there is no clear majority for an alternative to May’s deal.

The EU was not impressed with May’s speech on Monday, as highlighted by the fact that none of its top officials nor its Brexit negotiator made any comments – positive or negative.

German Justice Minister Katarina Barley said on Tuesday she was disappointed by British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to break a deadlock over Brexit and suggested Britain hold a second referendum.

Without a approved deal or an alternative, the world’s fifth largest economy will move to basic World Trade Organization rules on March 29 — a nightmare scenario for manufacturers dependent on delicate supply chains which stretch across Europe and beyond.

Company chiefs are shocked at the political crisis and say it has already damaged Britain’s reputation as Europe’s pre-eminent destination for foreign investment.

“Brexit is the most stupid economic decision for a long time, the worst thing that can happen,” Kasper Rorsted, boss of German sportswear firm Adidas, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Asked if Brexit could be averted, he said: “I think the train has already left the station. Emotionally, I hope that all parties can come to their senses.”

Supporters of Brexit say that while there may be some short-term disruption, the warnings of chaos are overblown and that in the long term, Britain will thrive if it cuts loose from what they cast as a doomed German-dominated experiment in European unity.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James in London, and Gabriela Baczynska; in Brussels; Editing by Michael Holden and Alison Williams)

Caterers At UK Airports Are Stockpiling In-Flight Meals To Prepare For ‘No Deal’ Brexit

In the days after the UK’s chaotic no-deal Brexit, as companies scramble to re-engineer supply chains to account for time-consuming customs checks on goods entering the country from the EU, air travelers leaving the UK (passport in hand) can rest assured that, even if their flights linger on the runway for hours, at least they will have a tasty in-flight meal to enjoy as they lash out at Theresa May and her government on Twitter.

That’s because the world’s biggest caterer of airplane meals, snacks and beverages has already stockpiled enough supplies to last about ten days in a warehouse in Peterborough, England, Bloomberg reports.

Brexit

Following the historic defeat of her Brexit withdrawal deal last week, Theresa May has apparently reasoned that winning over intransigent Tories and members of the DUP would be her best shot at winning support for a “Plan B” deal, which she is expected to introduce on Monday (to be sure, “Plan B” is expected to include only minor differences from “Plan A”).

With the way forward as muddled as ever, May has little choice but to keep fostering scary headlines about the possible fallout from a ‘no deal’ Brexit – a strategy we have dubbed “Project Fear” – in the hope that, once their backs are against the wall and their alternatives have been whittled down to ‘her deal or no deal’, MPs will do the “sensible” thing and back May’s deal.

Brexit

And now, Gate Gourmet, an airline services company that supplies 10 airports in the UK, has filled warehouses across the country with enough supplies to give them a 10-day buffer following a hard Brexit, which the company’s executives fear could be disruptive to their supply chain.

Gate Gourmet, which serves 20 airlines at 10 U.K. airports, is accumulating enough pizza, ice cream and roast duck (for business class) to see passengers through about 10 days of disruption. Chilled items are being held at a warehouse in Peterborough, England, while mountains of snack boxes, peanuts and toilet rolls are piling up at a room-temperature facility in London.

“Companies could be in difficulty if they haven’t prepared themselves and ensured a continuity of supply,” Stephen Corr, the Zurich-based firm’s managing director for Western Europe, said in an interview. “We’ve been gradually increasing inventory levels of products from the European Union to ensure that any initial disruption at the U.K. border can be covered.”

Companies across the UK are already stockpiling everything from autoparts, plane wings, newsprint, beer and cancer drugs at specialist warehouses. Gate Gourmet produces most of its meals in Spain and Germany, which could create problems if the trading relationship between the UK and the EU suddenly reverts to WTO rules. Because of this pre-Brexit Day rush, one of the warehouses used by Gate Gourmet is already 98% full.

That means using the Calais-Dover sea crossing that’s expected to become a pinch-point following the introduction of time-consuming customs checks if Britain exits the EU without a deal. Before being sent to the airport for reheating aboard the plane, the cooked food is stored in Peterborough.

The site, run by a Chiltern Cold Storage, is now 98 percent full with everything from frozen meat for restaurants to vegan meals and dog food, as suppliers the length and breadth of Britain call on its services, according to Operations Director Tom Lewis.

With Brexit Day just 75 days away, more companies are triggering their ‘hard Brexit’ contingency plans. And with May about as close to passing a deal as she was last summer (that is to say, not close at all), we can’t help but wonder if all of this stockpiling could create some distortions in the UK’s PMI numbers if Brexit Day comes and goes without a catastrophe.

The IMF Issues A Worldwide Warning: “The Risk Of A Sharper Decline In Global Growth Has Certainly Increased”

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde made headlines all over the globe this week when she declared that “the risk of a sharper decline in global growth has certainly increased”.  As you will see below, signs of economic trouble are popping up all over the planet, and pretty much just about everyone is now acknowledging that the global economy is slowing down.  But does that mean that we are headed for a global recession in 2019?  Well, things certainly do not look good right now, but there is still time to turn things around.  But in order to turn things in a more positive direction, something has got to be done to stop the downward momentum that seems to be accelerating in the early portion of this year.

On Monday, the IMF slashed their forecast for global economic growth for the second time in three months…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its estimates for global growth on Monday, warning that the expansion seen in recent years is losing momentum.

The Fund now projects a 3.5 percent growth rate worldwide for 2019 and 3.6 percent for 2020. These are 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points below its last forecasts in October — making it the second downturn revision in three months.

But at least they are still projecting global economic growth this year, and many would argue that “a 3.5 percent growth rate” is wildly optimistic.

At this point, it seems like just about everywhere you look economic confidence is declining.  For example, one recent survey found that the percentage of global CEOs that believe that the world economy will slow down over the next year has jumped dramatically…

Rising populism, policy uncertainty and trade conflicts have led to a sharp drop in confidence among global CEOs.

The share of chief executives who think the global economy will slow over the next year has jumped to nearly 30% from 5% in 2018, according to a survey of 1,300 top business leaders by audit giant PwC.

At least publicly, corporate CEOs usually want to put a positive spin on the future, and so it is absolutely astounding that this number has risen so much in a single year.

But there is no denying what is happening around the world right now.  Over in Asia, China just announced that 2018 was the worst year for economic growth that country had seen in 28 years.

In addition, Chinese corporate bond defaults soared to an all-time record high in 2018, and it looks like 2019 could easily be even worse.

On the other side of the globe, Europe’s largest economy actually contracted during the third quarter…

In Europe, its largest economic powerhouse Germany has been dented after it was announced the German economy had contracted in the third quarter.

This left Berlin skirting on the fringe of recession territory with economists fearing the most powerful economy in Europe was on the brink of financial chaos.

Europe faces great uncertainty during the months ahead.  There is a very real possibility that we could have a “no deal Brexit”, Italy is teetering on the brink of complete and total financial ruin, and the entire European banking system could begin to collapse at any time.

Meanwhile, we continue to get more indications that the U.S. economy is slowing down as well.

For example, on Monday we got news that JCPenney is “on the precipice of bankruptcy”…

JCPenney already finds itself in a precarious position in the first month of 2019: stocks are dwindling, sales are falling, and its desolate boardroom is still waiting for a number of senior vacancies to be filled.

Analysts fear the multitude of problems the department store is now facing points towards a ‘broken business’ balancing on the precipice of bankruptcy.

And just like its once fierce competitor Sears, all 846 of its stores could face closure, potentially affecting thousands of workers and risking another heavy blow to an already beaten-and-bruised retail sector.

Just like Sears, JCPenney is headed for zero, but it will take some time for the process to fully play out.

And the same thing is true for the nation as a whole.  As James Howard Kunstler observed in his most recent article, our financial system “is on a slow boat to oblivion”…

As in this age of Hollywood sequels and prequels, America prefers to recycle old ideas rather than entertain new ones, so you can see exactly how the 2020 presidential election is shaping up to be a replay of the Great Depression, with Roosevelt-to-rescue! — only this time it’ll be with somebody in the role of Eleanor Roosevelt as chief executive. Donald Trump, of course, being the designated bag-holder for all the financial blunders of the past decade, gets to be Herbert Hoover. As was the case in the original, economic depression will segue into war, with maybe not such a happy ending for us as World War Two was.

There should be no doubt that the money part of the story is on a slow boat to oblivion. The world has been running on loans to such a grotesque degree that it’s managed the impressive feat of bankrupting the future. The collateral for all that debt was the conviction that there were ample amounts of future “growth” up ahead to service that debt. That conviction is now evaporating as car sales plummet, and real estate goes south, and nations twang each other over trade, and global supply lines wither. Globalism is unwinding — and not for the first time, either.

Of course most ordinary Americans are not getting prepared for what is ahead because they do not believe that anything is going to happen.

Despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary, most people believe that the system is stable and that our political leaders can easily fix any problems that may arise.

Unfortunately, the truth is not that simple.  Our problems have been building for decades, and at this point there is no way that this story is going to end well.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.  His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News.  From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites.  If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so.  The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

The post The IMF Issues A Worldwide Warning: “The Risk Of A Sharper Decline In Global Growth Has Certainly Increased” appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Mexico pipeline explosion killed 89, Pemex defends response

January 21, 2019

By Adriana Barrera

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A gasoline pipeline explosion in central Mexico last week killed at least 89 people, the country’s health minister said on Monday, while an official with the state-owned oil company defended its response to the leak.

There were also 51 people injured, Health Minister Jorge Alcocer told a morning news conference. Friday’s pipeline blast happened after hundreds of people has rushed to collect fuel from the gushing pipe.

Over the weekend, a series of possible missteps by the current government became clear, from the delay in shutting off the pipeline, to relatives saying fuel shortages caused by the government’s anti-theft policy attracted people to the leak.

Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said that any negligence by authorities is being investigated and that officials involved would be called in to answer questions this week.

“It’s a fundamental issue, the chronology of the events must become absolutely clear.”

A Pemex engineer told a news conference on Monday that at first the leak was just a “small puddle” but later grew into a “fountain.” Within 20 minutes of that assessment, the engineer said, the company was able to “take actions.”

It was not clear if those actions included shutting off the flow of fuel in the pipeline.

Pemex Chief Executive Octavio Romero said his team had followed protocol, though he would not confirm or deny if there was negligence or corruption related to the delay in closing the pipeline.

“Everything will be looked at,” he said.

(Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Noe Torres; Writing by Christine Murray; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski)

Ten sailors dead, 14 saved after two ships catch fire near Crimea

January 21, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ten crew members have been found dead and 14 have been rescued after two ships caught fire in the Kerch Strait near Crimea, Russia’s transport ministry said on Monday, with a rescue operation still underway.

The ministry said earlier on Monday that crew members were jumping into the sea to escape the blaze, which probably broke out during a ship-to-ship fuel transhipment.

Both ships were under the Tanzanian flag – Candy (Venice) and Maestro – and had a combined total of 31 crew members. Of them, 16 were Turkish citizens and 15 from India, it said.

An industry source told Reuters there were stormy conditions in the sea when the incident happened.

The Kerch Strait between Russian-annexed Crimea and southern Russia controls access from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea, where there are both Russian and Ukrainian ports.

In November, Russia detained three Ukrainian navy vessels and their crews in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait, fuelling tensions between the two countries. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Gareth Jones)

Iran Ready To “Eliminate Israel From The Earth”; IDF Trolls Tehran Over Twitter

The head of Iran’s air force said on Monday that the Islamic Republic’s pilots are looking forward to facing Israel, and will “eliminate it from earth” after Israeli airstrikes on alleged Iranian targets inside Syria killed 11 people, including four Syrian soldiers. 

Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) made the comments to the Young Journalist Club news agency following Israel’s strike on munition storage facilities within Damascus International Airport, a military training camp and an Iranian intelligence site, according to The Independent. 

“The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth,” said Nasirzadeh.

Israel claims it launched the strikes in retaliation for a surface-to-surface rocket fired on Sunday by Iran’s Quds Force from within Syria at a ski resort in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which was intercepted by Israeli air defenses. 

“That’s a civilian site and there were civilians there,” said Israeli army spokesman Lt. General Jonathan Conricus Monday morning, adding “We saw that as an unacceptable attack by Iranian troops, not proxies in Syria.” 

“In addition to that, the area from which the Iranians fired their missile is an area we have been promised that the Iranians would not be present in. We know it was not done in the spur of the moment, it was a premeditated attack.”

The Israeli military said the sorties hit Iran’s “main storage hub in Syria” used to transport Iranian weapons to allies in Syria including Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Israel recently acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in Syria over the last few years but has previously refrained from commenting for fear of triggering a reaction and being drawn into the deadly fighting in Syria, which is in the grips of an eight-year civil war. 

Monday’s announcement marked the first time they had reported strikes in real time and released detailed information since last May 2018, when Israel claimed to have struck almost all of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria, following another rocket attack on its positions in the Golan. –The Independent

Israel said on Monday that Syria had ignored its warning over the upcoming strikes, so they were forced to target Syria’s aerial defense batteries which fired “dozens” of surface-to-air missiles at Israel’s planes. 

Israeli military release graphic of the targets in Syria their warplanes struck on Monday (Israeli army / handout )

“The [army] holds the Syrian regime responsible for everything taking place within Syria and warns the Syrian regime against targeting Israel or permitting it to be targeted,” read a statement by the Israeli army. 

“Israel is determined to continue to prevent Iranians from building an independent war machine in Syria and is ready to take the risk of exchange of fire,” he told reporters in a briefing,” said retired Israeli Maj. Gen Yaakov Amidror, who was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser until 2013 – calling the airstrikes a signal to Iran about har far Israel is willing to go. 

“The more Iranians try to launch rockets into Israel the more severe will be the attack in response,” he added. “It is about a strong signal to Iranians. We’re ready to escalate if you don’t stop.”

The Israel Defense Force, meanwhile, trolled Iran over Twitter with a map of the Middle East showing an arrow to Syria labeled “where Iran is,” and arrows over Iran which read “where Iran belongs.” 

Brexit not to blame for shrinking UK chocolate bars – ONS

January 21, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The sizes of chocolate bars, rolls of toilet paper and boxes of breakfast cereal on sale in Britain have all been shrinking, but this was just as big a problem before the country voted to leave the European Union as after, statisticians said on Monday.

Between September, 2015 and June, 2017 about 206 products used to calculate British inflation shrank in size, while only 79 increased, the Office for National Statistics said.

Some Britons have blamed the fall in the pound and an increased cost in imports after June 2016’s Brexit referendum for reduced product sizes, most obviously when the Toblerone bar lost several of its chocolate peaks in November, 2016.

But the ONS said there was no evidence Brexit was to blame for so-called “shrinkflation”.

“There was no trend in the frequency of size changes over this period, which included the EU referendum,” the statistics agency concluded, echoing its earlier research into the topic.

Toblerone’s makers always denied Brexit was the reason for the change, and the bar returned to its traditional shape last July.

Food products changed in size most often, especially cereals, meat and confectionery — but toilet rolls, nappies, tissues and washing-up liquid were affected too.

Retailers rarely adjusted prices immediately after a product’s change in size, so the shrinking size of some products will have added to British consumer price inflation, which hit a five-year high of 3.1 percent in November, 2017.

However, the ONS said it estimated the effect was small as only 1.0-2.1 percent of products used to calculate inflation shrank in size, while 0.3-0.7 percent increased.

British manufacturers have been under pressure from public health authorities to reduce the calories and sugar in their products for a number of years.

Confectioners agreed in 2014 to reduce the size of single-serve chocolate bars so they contained no more than 250 calories. A new sugar tax last year led to Coca-Cola and other soft drinks being sold in smaller bottles.

(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Ed Osmond)

Philippines holds referendum for Muslim autonomy in troubled south

January 21, 2019

By Martin Petty

MANILA (Reuters) – Minority Muslims in the Philippines cast votes on Monday in a long-awaited referendum on autonomy, the culmination of a peace process to end decades of separatist conflict in a region plagued by poverty, banditry and Islamist militancy.

Some 2.8 million people in Mindanao, the country’s volatile southernmost region, were asked if they backed a plan by separatists and the government to create a self-administered area known as Bangsamoro, (nation of Moros), referring to the name Spanish colonialists gave to the area’s Muslim inhabitants.

The ballot was largely peaceful and turnout was large, according to election authorities, with a result expected within four days when a manual vote count is completed.

GRAPHIC: Philippine referendum on Muslim autonomous region IMG – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hk3s7L

Overwhelming approval is expected for a plan that would grant executive, legislative and fiscal powers to a region hamstrung by decades of conflict that made it one of Asia’s poorest and most at risk of infiltration by radical groups.

The government will oversee defense, security, foreign and monetary policy, and appoint a transition authority led by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is expected to dominate the new setup after a 2022 election.

“It’s a historic chapter in our long, long journey towards our right to self-determination, it’s history in the making,” Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s top peace negotiator, told Reuters by telephone.

“Our hope is this will bring justice. Violent extremism won’t thrive if there are no longer grievances with the government, it will have no support if there is no legitimacy.

“This will be a very, very important and hard won victory,” he said.

A victory would also be a boost for President Rodrigo Duterte, who remains hugely popular but has yet to make significant inroads towards delivering on his ambitious policy agenda.

Though the Bangsamoro plan was negotiated by his predecessors, Duterte, a mayor in Davao City in Mindanao for 22 years, was pivotal in ensuring it got Congressional support.

Duterte has urged voters to approve it and show they wanted peace, development and a local leadership that “truly represents and understands the needs of the Muslim people”.

The plan’s advocates say it would address what are the predominantly Catholic country’s lowest levels of employment, income, education and development, which experts say have been are exploited by pirates, kidnapping gangs and armed groups that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The MILF has denounced extremists and said disillusionment over slow progress towards devolution was a factor behind a 2017 occupation of Marawi City by rebels loyal to Islamic State.

The military took five months of ground offensives and devastating air strikes to defeat the militants.

The whole of Mindanao has since been under martial law.

The MILF and the government hope autonomy would lead to greater investment in infrastructure and natural resources, and allow for expansion of fruit and nickel exports and development of a palm oil industry.

(Editing by Darren Schuettler)

British PM to try to break Brexit deadlock with EU concessions

January 21, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will try to break the Brexit deadlock on Monday by setting out proposals in parliament that are expected to focus on winning more concessions from the European Union.

With just over two months until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29 there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world’s biggest trading bloc.

After her Brexit divorce deal was rejected by lawmakers last week, May has been searching for a way to get a deal through parliament, so far in vain.

The EU, which has an economy more than six times the size of the United Kingdom, says it wants an orderly exit but senior officials have expressed frustration and sorrow at London’s deepening crisis over Brexit.

“I have often said Shakespeare could not have written any better the tragedy we are now witnessing in Britain,” German Europe Minister Michael Roth told broadcaster ARD.

Attempts to forge a consensus with the opposition Labour Party failed so May is expected to focus on winning over 118 rebels in her own party and the small Northern Irish party which props up her government with concessions from the EU.

May will make a statement in parliament at 1530 GMT and put forward a motion on her proposed next steps on Brexit, though some lawmakers are planning to wrest control of Britain’s exit from the government.

IRELAND

May will focus on changing the Northern Irish backstop, an insurance policy to ensure no return to a hard border between the British province and Ireland.

In a sign of just how grave the political crisis in London has become, the Daily Telegraph reported that May was considering amending the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

May told her ministers she would focus on securing changes from Brussels designed to win over rebel Conservatives and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, The Times said.

Ireland will not engage in bilateral talks on Brexit and will only negotiate as part of the 27 remaining members of the EU, Ireland’s European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said.

After May’s motion is published, lawmakers will be able to propose amendments to it, setting out alternatives to her deal.

The 650-seat parliament is deeply divided over Brexit, with different factions of lawmakers supporting a wide range of options including leaving without a deal, holding a second referendum and seeking a customs union with the EU.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of anti-EU lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party, said Britain is likely to leave the European Union without a deal, with a revised Brexit deal as the next likely outcome.

He said if the backstop was removed then most of the opposition to the deal from eurosceptics in her party would be removed.

Sterling was steady at $1.2836. Buying sterling is not advisable because of Brexit uncertainty, UBS Wealth Management said on Monday.

Ever since Britain voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016, London’s political class has been debating how to leave the European project forged by France and Germany after the devastation of World War Two.

While the country is divided over EU membership, most agree the world’s fifth largest economy is at a crossroads and its choices over Brexit will shape the prosperity of future generations for years to come.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Modern China’s birth rate falls to lowest ever

January 21, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s birth rate last year fell to its lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago, official data showed on Monday, with looser population controls failing to encourage couples to have more babies.

The birth rate stood at 10.94 per thousand, the lowest since 1949 and down from 12.43 per thousand in 2017, data from the statistics bureau showed. The number of babies born in 2018 fell by two million to 15.23 million.

The rate of natural increase in population, deducting the number of deaths, also slowed to the lowest since the aftermath of a disastrous famine in the early 1960s.

China allowed urban couples to have two children in 2016, replacing a one-child policy in place since 1979, with policymakers wary of falling birth rates and a rapidly growing aging population.

The statistics bureau did not suggest a reason for the birth rate decline but economic growth last year fell to its lowest in nearly three decades.

Many couples in China are reluctant to have children because they cannot afford to pay for health care and education amid surging property prices.

In January, a government-affiliated think tank warned that the population in the world’s second-biggest economy could start to shrink as soon as 2027.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu, Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China’s 2018 growth slows to 28-year low, more stimulus seen

January 21, 2019

By Kevin Yao and Yawen Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s economy cooled in the fourth quarter under pressure from faltering domestic demand and bruising U.S. tariffs, dragging 2018 growth to the lowest in nearly three decades and pressuring Beijing to roll out more stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown.

Growing signs of weakness in China — which has generated nearly a third of global growth in recent years — are fueling anxiety about risks to the world economy and are weighing on profits for firms ranging from Apple to big carmakers.

Policymakers have pledged more support this year to reduce the risk of massive job losses, but have ruled out a “flood” of stimulus like that which Beijing has relied on in the past, which quickly juiced growth rates but left a mountain of debt.

“The government has means to support the economy. They can expand infrastructure spending and they can cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio. So we don’t need to worry about capital spending,” said Naoto Saito, chief researcher at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

“But the problem lies in consumption. As the U.S. and China clash on many fronts, consumer sentiment appears to have been hurt. Until now, solid wage growth has been supporting consumption but now there appears to be a sense of vague anxiety about the future.”

Fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis, easing to 6.4 percent on-year as expected from 6.5 percent in the third quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

That pulled full-year growth down to 6.6 percent, the slowest annual pace since 1990. GDP in 2017 grew a revised 6.8 percent.

With support measures expected to take some time to kick in, most analysts believe conditions are likely to get worse before they get better, and see a further slowing to 6.3 percent this year.

Some China watchers believe actual growth is already weaker than official data suggest.

UNCERTAINTIES APLENTY

Despite a raft of policy easing steps so far, December data released along with GDP showed continued weakness across broad areas of the economy at the end of last year.

Factory output picked up unexpectedly to 5.7 percent from 5.4 percent, but it was one of the few bright spots, along with a stronger services sector.

While regulators have been fast-tracking construction projects, most of the gain appeared due to higher mining and oil production. Reuters calculations showed average daily steel output hit its lowest level since March as producers cut output amid shrinking profit margins.

Despite the slowing economy, Chinese officials also pledged to continue with a crackdown on air pollution that has weighed on the industrial sector.

Other data on Monday showed investment and retail sales continued to languish, while the jobless rate edged higher.

Fixed-asset investment rose 5.9 percent in 2018, the slowest in at least 22 years, as a regulatory crackdown on riskier financing and debt weighed on local government spending early in the year.

Property investment is also looking wobbly, with analysts waiting to see if Beijing will risk loosening restrictions on home buyers that have kept a potential housing bubble in check.

Chinese consumers are clearly feeling the pressure.

Though retail sales growth picked up marginally in December to 8.2 percent, the consumer strength gauge is around the weakest in 15 years. Auto sales in the world’s biggest car market shrank for the first time since the 1990s.

Officials recently pledged to boost consumer demand for big-ticket items from cars to appliances. But gains in disposable income are slowing, while household debt is on the rise.

Other data in recent weeks showed exports and imports unexpectedly shrank last month, while falling factory orders point to a further drop in activity in coming months and more job shedding.

Some factories in Guangdong – China’s export hub – have shut earlier than usual ahead of the long Lunar New Year holiday as new business dries up.

TRADE PRESSURES

Even if China and the United States agree on a trade deal in current talks, which would be a tall order, analysts said it would be no panacea for China or its exporters.

Demand is weakening globally, not just in the United States. Net exports actually dragged on China’s growth by 8.6 percent last year, Reuters calculations based on official data showed.

Trade negotiators are facing an early March deadline and Washington has threatened to sharply hike tariffs if there are no substantial signs of agreement.

White House officials have given markedly different views on progress so far. China’s Vice Premier and lead negotiator Liu He is due to visit Washington for the next round of talks at the end of the month.

MORE STIMULUS

To free up more funds for lending, particularly to vulnerable smaller firms, the central bank has cut the amount of reserves that banks need to set aside as reserves (RRR) five times over the past year, and guided borrowing costs lower.

Further RRR reductions are expected in coming quarters, but most analysts do not see a cut in benchmark interest rates yet, as policymakers wait to see if earlier steps begin to stabilize activity.

More forceful easing could also pressure the yuan and aggravate high debt levels, with money going into less efficient or speculative investments as it often has in the past.

The government may unveil more fiscal stimulus during the annual parliament meeting in March, including bigger tax cuts and more spending on infrastructure projects.

Some analysts believe it could deliver 2 trillion yuan ($295.13 billion) worth of cuts in taxes and fees this year, and allow local governments to issue another 2 trillion yuan in special bonds largely used to fund key projects.

China has ample room for policy adjustments, statistics bureau chief Ning Jizhe said on Monday.

Still, some analysts do not expect the economy to bottom out convincingly until summer.

(Additional reporting by Stella Qiu and China Monitoring Desk)

Zimbabwe crackdown challenged in court, opposition leaders in hiding

January 21, 2019

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) – Legal challenges to a brutal clampdown on dissent by Zimbabwe’s government were set in motion on Monday, as fears that the country is veering back towards authoritarian rule drove some leaders of the main opposition party into hiding.

The fragile state of Zimbabwe’s economy was also in focus as President Emmerson Mnangagwa headed home early from a foreign trip during which he had been expected to pitch for investments, while South Africa said it turned down a request from its neighbor for a $1.2 billion loan last month.

The lawyer for pastor Evan Mawarire, a rights activist, said he would seek bail at the High Court after being charged with subversion. Beatrice Mtetwa said she was unsure when the court would hear the case.

Mawarire is the most prominent of hundreds of people, also including four opposition lawmakers, detained on public order charges on Friday following violent protests last week against a fuel price hike.

Police say three people died during the unrest, but lawyers and human rights groups say evidence suggests at least a dozen were killed while scores were treated for gunshot wounds.

On social media on Monday, many Zimbabweans said the clampdown had the hallmarks of Mnangagwa’s deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, a retired general who led the coup that toppled former leader Robert Mugabe in November.

But the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said Mnangagwa – nicknamed “Crocodile” during his time as a high-ranking official in Mugabe’s strong-arm administration – was similar in outlook.

“These two walk the same path, they may have a different approach from time to time but the objective is the same. They want to dismantle the MDC leadership,” MDC spokesman Jacob Mafume said, adding that several of its leaders were in hiding.

Mnangagwa’s spokesman said on Sunday that the crackdown was a foretaste of how authorities would respond to future unrest.

CHALLENGE TO INTERNET BLACKOUT

In what opponents view as a further attempt to crush dissent, the government has imposed a sporadic internet blackout since Tuesday.

A lawyers’ group said it planned to challenge that shutdown in the High Court on Monday afternoon. The action is directed at Zimbabwe’s three mobile networks as well as Mnangagwa, the national security minister and the head of the intelligence services.

Mnangagwa, who has been on a four-nation European tour, was expected to try to attract investors at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. A foreign ministry source said he was now due back in Harare on Monday night.

With high inflation and a shortage of cash in circulation eating into ordinary Zimbabweans’ spending power, the government introduced buses to carry passengers at cheaper fares after public taxis increased prices citing the fuel price hike.

Businesses, including banks, shops and government offices re-opened in Harare on Monday but some schools in Chitungwiza town to the south remained closed, residents said.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; writing by John Stonestreet)

Chinese scientist who gene-edited babies fired by university

January 21, 2019

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – A Chinese scientist responsible for what he said were the world’s first “gene-edited” babies evaded oversight and broke guidelines in a quest for fame and fortune, state media said on Monday, as the university where he worked announced his dismissal.

He Jiankui said in November that he used a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born that month, sparking an international outcry about the ethics and safety of such research.

Hundreds of Chinese and international scientists condemned He and said any application of gene editing on human embryos for reproductive purposes was unethical.

Chinese authorities also denounced He and issued a temporary halt to research activities involving the editing of human genes.

He had “deliberately evaded oversight” with the intent of creating a gene-edited baby “for the purpose of reproduction”, according to the initial findings of an investigating team set up by the Health Commission of China in southern Guangdong province, Xinhua news agency reported.

He had raised funds himself and privately organized a team of people to carry out the procedure in order to “seek personal fame and profit”, Xinhua said, adding that he had forged ethical review papers in order to enlist volunteers for the procedure.

The safety and efficacy of the technologies He used are unreliable and creating gene-edited babies for reproduction is banned by national decree, the report said.

The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in the city of Shenzhen, said in a statement on its website that He had been fired.

“Effective immediately, SUSTech will rescind the work contract with Dr. Jiankui He and terminate any of his teaching and research activities at SUSTech,” the statement said.

The university added the decision came after a preliminary investigation by the Guangdong Province Investigation Task Force.

Neither He nor a representative could be reached for comment on Monday.

He defended his actions at a conference in Hong Kong in November, saying that he was “proud” of what he had done and that gene editing would help protect the girls from being infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

He’s announcement sparked a debate among Chinese legal scholars over which laws He had technically broken by carrying out the procedure, as well as whether he could be held criminally responsible or not.

Many scholars pointed to a 2003 guideline that bans altered human embryos from being implanted for the purpose of reproduction, and says altered embryos cannot be developed for more than 14 days.

The case files of those involved who are suspected of committing crimes had been sent to the ministry of public security, an unnamed spokesperson for the investigation team was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd in Beijing and Sue-Lin Wong in Shenzhen, CHINA; editing by Nick Macfie)

Kremlin downbeat on Japan peace deal chances before Abe visit

January 21, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Monday played down the notion that Russia and Japan would be able to swiftly clinch a World War Two peace deal or resolve a decades-old territorial dispute, a day before the two countries are due to hold talks on the issues.

Japan is seeking a peace deal with Russia it hopes will end a dispute over islands captured by Soviet troops in the last days of World War Two, a disagreement that has long soured bilateral relations.

The islands are known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has launched a diplomatic campaign to strike a deal with Moscow.

Abe and President Vladimir Putin are due to hold talks in Moscow on Tuesday after Tokyo and Moscow agreed to intensify their search for a solution.

The Kremlin warned on Monday that neither Russia nor Japan would abandon their national interests however, that everyone should be realistic about the difficulty of clinching a deal, and that negotiations were still in their early phases.

When asked about a report from Japan’s Kyodo news agency which cited unnamed government sources as saying Abe planned to propose signing a peace treaty if Moscow handed back control of two of the disputed islands, the Kremlin declined to comment.

“Let’s wait for tomorrow’s talks,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“Again though, we urge everyone to be realistic and to proceed from the fact that we must seek a solution with constant respect for the national interests of the two countries.

“No one is going to give ground on their national interests,” said Peskov.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Andrew Osborn; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)

EU veto of Alstom-Siemens rail tie-up would be ‘economic error’ – France

January 21, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – The European Commission would make an “economic error and political mistake” if it were to block the merger of Alstom’s and Siemens’ rail businesses, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, shortly before meeting the EU’s competition chief.

Le Maire said the French and German governments were fully behind the merger, as were Alstom <ALSO.PA> Chief Executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge and his Siemens <SIEGn.DE> counterpart Joe Kaeser.

“Refusing the merger between Alstom and Siemens would be an economic error and a political mistake,” Le Maire told journalists on Monday, ahead of meeting with the EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in Paris.

“We cannot take an industrial decision for the 21st century with the competition rules from the 20th century,” Le Maire added, reiterating a warning to Vestager about rejecting the merger.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that Siemens’ and Alstom’s plan to create a European rail champion to take on a Chinese rival had failed to win over EU antitrust regulators, despite German and French backing.

“We all believe that (the merger) is the best way today to respond to China’s rise,” added Le Maire.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Myriam Rivet; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Israel strikes in Syria in more open assault on Iran

January 21, 2019

By Ellen Francis and Ari Rabinovitch

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel struck in Syria early on Monday as part of its increasingly open assault on Iran’s presence there, shaking the night sky over Damascus with an hour of loud explosions in a second consecutive night of military action.

Damascus did not say what damage or casualties resulted from the strikes, but a war monitor said 11 were killed and Syria’s ally Russia said four Syrian soldiers died.

The threat of direct confrontation between arch-enemies Israel and Iran has long simmered in Syria, where the Iranian military built a presence early in the civil war to help President Bashar al-Assad fight Sunni Muslim rebels seeking to oust him.

Israel, regarding Iran as its biggest threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah without claiming responsibility for the attacks.

But with an election approaching, and with the U.S. vowing more action on Iran, Israel’s government has lifted the lid on strikes that it once preferred to keep quiet, and has also taken a tougher stance towards Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.

It said a rocket attack on Sunday was Iran’s work.

In Tehran, airforce chief Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said Iran was “fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the earth”, according to the Young Journalist Club, a website supervised by state television.

Assad has said Iranian forces are welcome to stay in Syria after years of military victories that have brought most of the country back under his control, though two large enclaves are still held by other forces.

His other main ally Russia, worried about the consequences of Israeli strikes for the wider pursuit of a war that is now entering its ninth year, has provided Syria with air defense systems.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is hoping to win a fifth term in the April 9 election, last week told his cabinet Israel has carried out “hundreds” of attacks over recent years to curtail Iran and Hezbollah.

“We have a permanent policy, to strike at the Iranian entrenchment in Syria and hurt whoever tries to hurt us,” he said on Sunday.

In a highly publicized operation last month, the Israeli military uncovered and destroyed cross-border tunnels from Lebanon that it said were dug by Hezbollah to launch attacks during any future war between them.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has vowed to expel “every last Iranian boot” from Syria and a senior U.S. official in Lebanon last week criticized Hezbollah over the tunnels.

Israel last fought a war with Hezbollah, on Lebanese soil, in 2006. It fears Hezbollah has used its own role fighting alongside Iran and Assad in Syria to bolster its military capabilities, including an arsenal of rockets aimed at Israel.

Tensions have also risen with Israel’s construction of a frontier barrier that Lebanon says passes through its territory along the contested border.

NIGHT ATTACK

The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked Iranian targets early on Monday, including munition stores, a position in the Damascus International Airport, an intelligence site and a military training camp.

Its jets then targeted Syrian defense batteries after coming under fire, the Israeli military said, and the Defence Ministry of Russia, Assad’s strongest ally, said four Syrian soldiers were killed and six wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 11 people had been killed.

Syrian air defenses, supplied by Russia, had destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs, the Russian Defence Ministry said, according to RIA news agency.

Syrian state media, citing a military source, said the country had endured “intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles, but had destroyed most “hostile targets”.

Israel’s target was the Iranian Quds Force, a special unit in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps overseas operations, the Israeli military said.

It followed a previous night of cross-border fire, which Israel said began when Iranian troops fired an Iranian-made surface-to-surface missile from an area near Damascus at a packed ski resort in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Iran has yet to respond to the accusation.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the area it was fired from “is an area we were promised the Iranians would not be present in”, in an apparent allusion to Russian reassurances to Israel.

Syria said it was Israel that had attacked, and its own air defenses that had repelled the assault.

(Reporting by Ellen Francis in Beirut, Ari Rabinovitch and Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Nick Macfie and Raissa Kasolowsky)

World War 3 Alert: Iranian Forces Fire Rockets Into Israel, And The IDF Responds With “Waves Of Guided Missiles”

Israel and Iran are edging dangerously close to a state of all-out war.  On Sunday night, Israeli forces rained missiles down on Iranian forces based in the Damascus area “for nearly an hour”.  According to the IDF, this was a response to “dozens” of missiles that were fired by Iranian forces in Syria toward targets in Israel earlier that day.  The Israelis were able to intercept the Iranian missiles, but if any of them had gotten through they could have caused a tremendous amount of damage.  Some of the missiles that Israel fired at the Iranians were reportedly intercepted, but quite a few of them did hit their intended targets. If the violence continues to escalate, we could potentially soon be talking about an all-out war between Israel and Iran in which both sides use their weapons of mass destruction.

The missile strikes against Iranian targets in Damascus made headlines all over the globe.  According to Syrian state media, there were “consecutive waves of guided missiles”…

Syrian state media cited a Syrian military source as saying Israel launched an “intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles”, but that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the “hostile targets”.

Witnesses in Damascus said loud explosions rang out in the night sky for nearly an hour.

The Syrians are boasting that they were able to destroy quite a few of the Israeli missiles, but independent observers confirm that quite a few Iranian targets were destroyed.

In the past, the Israelis have not always publicly acknowledged their attacks in Syria, but on Sunday night they released an immediate statement…

“We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory,” Israel’s military said in a statement.

“We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory.”

You can see some footage of the missile strikes right here.  Among the targets were “weapons warehouses at the Damascus International Airport”…

Targets striked by the IDF, which number at around 10 according to its statement, include weapons warehouses at the Damascus International Airport and in other locations, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian training camp in Syria’s south.

Now that the Iranians have been hit so hard, will they respond by striking back at Israel?

If both sides continue to escalate the violence, eventually a “point of no return” will be reached, and then all hell will break loose.

Prior to the IDF missile attacks on Iranian targets, rockets were fired toward the Golan Heights from inside Syria, and Israel blamed those attacks on the Iranians…

The Israeli military said earlier on Sunday that missiles fired toward the northern Golan Heights were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. It added in a statement on Monday that an Iranian force fired these missiles, but said it holds the Syrian regime responsible for any activity in its territory.

It seems extremely unlikely that this conflict will be resolved any time soon.  The Iranians are certainly not going to leave Syria, and they are definitely going to continue to funnel arms and resources to Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.

And the Israelis have clearly stated that they are going to resist any Iranian attempts to strengthen Hezbollah or to establish a permanent military presence inside Syria.  In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t have been any clearer when he said this to reporters…

“We have a permanent policy, to strike at the Iranian entrenchment in Syria and hurt whoever tries to hurt us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

If a full-blown war erupts in the days ahead, Israel will almost certainly find itself fighting Iran, Syria and Hezbollah simultaneously.  Of course Hezbollah is essentially an Iranian proxy, and at this point they have between 130,000 and 150,000 missiles aimed at Israel.  When war finally comes, it will be extremely bloody and extremely destructive.

Tonight, we are closer to such a war than ever.  The Iranians and the Israelis absolutely hate one another, and now they are firing missiles at one another.

It isn’t going to take much to push the two sides over the edge, and if that happens we are just a hop, a skip and a jump away from the start of World War 3.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.  His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News.  From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites.  If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so.  The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

The post World War 3 Alert: Iranian Forces Fire Rockets Into Israel, And The IDF Responds With “Waves Of Guided Missiles” appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Russian crowd defends ownership of Kuriles before Abe visit

January 20, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A crowd gathered in Moscow on Sunday to defend Russia’s ownership of a chain of islands captured by Soviet troops from Japan during the final days of World War Two.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, is pushing for a treaty for the islands, known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. Russia said on Monday that its sovereignty over them was not up for discussion.

“Any mention of handing over the Kuriles … is nothing other than an act of treason,” Igor Skurlatov, a speaker at the rally, said. “Today we give away the Kuriles, tomorrow we will give away Crimea.”

Organizers said around 2,000 people attended. The city’s security department put the number at 500, Interfax news agency said.

(Writing by Polina Ivanova; editing by John Stonestreet)

Unseeded Collins and Tiafoe make quarters on ‘Super Sunday’

January 20, 2019

By Sudipto Ganguly

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Not many would have bet on unseeded Americans Danielle Collins and Frances Tiafoe making it to the Australian Open quarter-finals but the duo won their respective fourth-round matches to make it a ‘Super Sunday’ for their country in Melbourne.

Tiafoe is the sole American left in the men’s draw but the women’s side could be set for a rich representation with Grand Slam winners Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens and 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys still to play in the fourth round.

While Serena and Keys play on Monday, 2017 U.S. Open champion Stephens, seeded fifth in Melbourne, will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the day’s last match.

The 25-year-old Collins had not won a match in her previous five Grand Slam appearances but thrashed second seed Angelique Kerber 6-0 6-2 to reach the last eight in her first main draw showing at Melbourne Park.

Such was her dominance that the fourth-round match lasted only 56 minutes with triple Grand Slam champion Kerber looking completely in awe of her opponent who peppered the Margaret Court Arena with 29 winners.

Collins’s coach, Mat Cloer, said his charge was an instinctive player.

“I think sometimes it depends a little bit on the opponent that she’s playing but I think she’s most comfortable playing offensive tennis,” Cloer told reporters.

“Controlling the baseline, really stepping in, taking as much time as she can and she did a great job of that today. Her mentality, just her as a person, she’s aggressive.

“So I think you want to let her be herself and let instincts take over and allow her to play as free as possible.”

Collins graduated from the University of Virginia in 2016 as the top-ranked college player in the United States. She was ranked 167 in the world in 2017 before climbing to 36 last year.

After losing in the first round at all five Grand Slams previously, she has won four matches at the year’s first major.

“I think it’s just part of the learning curve to be very honest,” Cloer said. “I think it just takes a little bit of time getting familiar with the tour… she didn’t know she really belonged there.

“It’s just kind of taken a little bit of time and she’s put in a lot of work. It’s just now the self-belief taking over.”

World number 39 Tiafoe celebrated his 21st birthday in style with a 7-5 7-6(6) 6-7(1) 7-5 win over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, seeded 20th.

Tiafoe was born to immigrant parents from Sierra Leone and his father was a janitor at a tennis center. Reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam was an emotional moment for the LeBron James fan.

“I mean, yeah, it’s crazy, man,” Tiafoe said. “Obviously if you guys know anything about me, the story in tennis, I obviously wasn’t a normal tennis story.

“The beginning of my career, I was playing for them, trying to do everything for my family. Obviously now I put them in a great place. Now I’m trying to do it for me.”

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Clare Fallon)

Labour says Britain’s only options are second Brexit referendum or close EU ties

January 20, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s only options are a second Brexit referendum or forging a close economic relationship with the European Union, the main opposition Labour Party said on Sunday.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, told the BBC he was open to extending Article 50 if that meant Britain avoided leaving the EU without a deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May returns to parliament on Monday to make a statement on how she will proceed with Britain’s departure from the European Union after her deal was defeated by lawmakers last week.

(Writing by Andrew Heavens)

British PM May to speak to ministers on Brexit on Sunday

January 20, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a conference call with ministers on Sunday to discuss Brexit, a government source said.

May returns to parliament on Monday to make a statement on how she will proceed with Britain’s departure from the European Union after her deal was defeated by lawmakers last week.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

UK’s May wants Irish treaty to break Brexit impasse: paper

January 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to seek a bilateral treaty with the Irish government as a way to remove the contentious backstop arrangement from Britain’s divorce deal with the European Union, a newspaper reported.

The Sunday Times said aides to May thought a deal with Ireland would remove the opposition to her Brexit plan from the Democratic Unionist Party that supports May’s minority government and from pro-Brexit rebels in her Conservative Party.

However the Irish edition of the same newspaper quoted a senior Irish government source as saying the bilateral treaty proposal was “not something we would entertain” and a second senior political source as saying it would not work with the European Commission.

May suffered a heavy defeat in parliament on Tuesday when Conservative lawmakers and members of other parties rejected her Brexit plan by an overwhelming majority.

That left Britain facing the prospect of no deal to smooth its exit from the EU in little more than two months’ time.

May is due to announce on Monday how she plans to proceed.

Many Conservatives and the DUP oppose the backstop that the European Union insists on as a guarantee to avoid a hard border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

No one was immediately available for comment on the Sunday Times report in May’s office nor in the Irish government.

Earlier on Saturday, Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney said Dublin’s commitment to the Brexit divorce deal struck with the British government was “absolute,” including the border backstop arrangement.

The Sunday Times also said a group of lawmakers in Britain’s parliament would meet on Sunday to consider ways they could suspend the Brexit process, wresting control away from May’s government.

(Reporting by William Schomberg in London and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)

Former British PM Major urges May to drop Brexit red lines

January 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Former British prime minister John Major urged Theresa May on Saturday to drop her “red lines” on Brexit or allow parliament to find a way forward to avoid a damaging no-deal departure from the European Union in March.

Major said he compromised on key decisions on the Northern Irish peace process and the first Gulf War while prime minister between 1990 and 1997, and May should do the same after her Brexit plan was rejected by a huge majority in parliament.

“Her deal is dead and I don’t think honestly that tinkering with it is going to make very much difference if any difference at all,” Major, who campaigned to stay in the EU ahead of the 2016 referendum, told BBC Radio.

May is due to tell parliament on Monday how she intends to proceed on Brexit. Lawmakers may then propose alternatives to see if any could command majority support.

“If we leave in chaos and without a deal, that seems to me to be the worst of all outcomes,” Major said.

May should therefore “go around” lawmakers in her party who say they are ready to accept a no-deal Brexit and drop her opposition to key issues in the negotiations, Major – who also faced a revolt inside the Conservative Party over Europe – said.

May has ruled out staying in the EU’s single market, an option that is considered less economically damaging, because Britain would not be able to control immigration from the bloc. She has also rejected staying in a customs union with the EU.

If May cannot compromise, she should allow parliament to find a way to overcome its splits, Major said. “I think there are signs parliament might be able to reach consensus,” he said.

Failing that, Britain should have a fresh referendum on its membership of the EU.

In the meantime, delaying Brexit was wise, Major said.

Major’s comments were rejected as “Remainer elite views” by a Conservative lawmaker who said May would break her promises to voters if she considered staying in the EU’s single market or a customs union or holding a second referendum.

“Brexit would become meaningless. We wouldn’t be leaving the European Union, we would be staying in the European Union,” Suella Braverman told the BBC.

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

UK in deadlock over Brexit ‘Plan B’ as May and Corbyn tussle

January 18, 2019

By Kylie MacLellan and William James

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s last-minute scramble to shape an EU exit, its biggest policy upheaval in half a century, stalled on Thursday as Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dug in their heels for competing visions.

After May’s two-year attempt to forge an amicable divorce with an independent trade policy was crushed by parliament in the biggest defeat for a British leader in modern history, May asked party leaders to forget self-interest to find a solution.

Yet there was little sign on Thursday that either of the two major parties — which hold 88 percent of the 650 seats in parliament — were prepared to compromise on key demands.

Corbyn said May had sent Britain hurtling toward the cliff edge of a disorderly exit on March 29 with no transition period, and urged her to ditch “red lines”.

But he repeated his own prerequisite for talks: a pledge to block a no-deal Brexit. May told Corbyn that was “an impossible condition” and urged him to join cross-party discussions.

“You have always believed in the importance of dialogue in politics. Do you really believe that, as well as declining to meet for talks yourself, it is right to ask your MPs not to seek a solution with the government?,” she said in a letter.

The further May moves toward softening Brexit, the more she alienates dedicated Brexit supporters in her own Conservative party who think the threat of a no-deal exit is a big bargaining chip and should anyway not be feared.

May’s spokeswoman said she held “constructive” talks on Thursday with lawmakers, including some from Labour.

If she fails to forge consensus, the world’s fifth-largest economy will drop out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal or will be forced to delay Brexit, possibly holding a national election or another referendum.

Corbyn said that he might look at options including another referendum — a remark that increased market expectations the chaos could ultimately delay or stop Brexit. [GBP/]

But a second referendum would take a year to organize, according to government guidance shown to lawmakers on Wednesday, a source in May’s office said.

ANOTHER VOTE?

Corbyn wants May to call another election, something she has refused, having lost her parliamentary majority in a 2017 snap poll that left her reliant on the support of a small Northern Irish pro-Brexit party.

She has also repeatedly said another referendum would corrode faith in democracy among the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU in 2016. Her spokesman said Britain had not raised the idea of delaying exit with the EU.

As the United Kingdom tumbles toward its biggest political and economic shift since World War Two, other EU members have offered to talk.

“We will do everything we can so that Britain exits with, and not without, an agreement,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc was open to the possibility of a “more ambitious” deal than May’s, which he said could not be improved on under principles she set out.

But they can do little until London decides what it wants.

Ever since the UK voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU, politicians have failed to agree on how or even whether to quit the bloc. If there is a solution to the riddle, it may be for parliament’s back-benchers to find it.

May will on Monday put forward a motion on her proposed next steps. Over the following week, lawmakers will be able to propose alternatives.

On Jan. 29, they will debate these plans, and voting on them should indicate whether any could get majority support.

If a way forward emerges, May could then go back to the EU and seek changes to her deal. Parliament would still need to vote on any new agreement, and it is not clear when that might happen.

Labour says it would back a deal with a permanent customs union with the EU — which would resolve the problem of managing the land border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic — as well as a close relationship with its single market and greater protections for workers and consumers.

Most Conservative lawmakers reject a customs union because it would prevent Britain having an independent trade policy — one of their main demands.

Without any deal, trade with the EU would default to basic World Trade Organization rules — a worrying prospect for manufacturers dependent on smooth, uncomplicated supply lines.

Company chiefs are aghast at the crisis and say it has already damaged Britain’s reputation as Europe’s pre-eminent destination for foreign investment.

From Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel to Scottish whisky distillers, firms want decisive government action.

“If anybody believes that you can just go ahead without some sort of an agreement here, I think that that is reckless,” said John Bason, finance chief of Associated British Foods <ABF.L>, a food and retail group with annual sales of over $20 billion.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper in Hastings, England, and Kate Holton, Andy Bruce and James Davey in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Catherine Evans and Andrew Cawthorne)

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