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Fifty-seven nations are suing Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, alleging in a historic lawsuit that the government has conducted genocide against its Rohingya minority. The suit comes just weeks after the United Nations warned that the vi…
November 11, 2019Read More
* UK Q3 annual GDP growth +1.0% vs Q2 +1.3%, lowest since 2010 * Weak world economy and Brexit uncertainties hurting demand * Economy expands 0.3% in Q3 alone after 0.2% fall in Q2 * Finance minister praises “solid” growth, economists doubtful * Bo…
November 11, 2019Read More
Mitchell Santos Toledo was brought to the U.S. when he was 2. “This is our home,” he says.
November 11, 2019Read More
Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities says local archeologists have unearthed the mummy of an unusually large animal, most likely a lion or lioness. The ministry said on Monday the mummy was excavated in Saqqara, a town south of Cairo that was a vast necrop…
November 11, 2019Read More
(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.In the end it was the military that helped settle it.Having hung on for weeks in the face of protests and opposition claims he’d rigged an election, Bolivia’s socialist President Evo Morales was forced into a corner yesterday.First the Organization of American States said widespread irregularities meant it was statistically unlikely Morales obtained enough votes to avoid a runoff. Then the armed forces chief called for him to go. And even as he described it as a coup, South America’s longest-serving leader swiftly obliged.The military has a long history of mixing with politics, including dictatorships, and the sight of troops on the streets can spur painful memories. Although it treads carefully these days, it still holds sway in countries across the region.In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro has hung on in the face of immense international pressure, with the army behind him. Witness the recent protests in Ecuador and Chile, where leaders have been quick to appear in public, flanked by senior officers.In Brazil, a right-wing former army officer is in the presidency, with other former officers in key roles.Argentina, with painful memories of the 1976-1983 dictatorship, is one outlier.Where Bolivia goes from here is unclear. There’s confusion over succession as the three officials who were next in line to replace Morales also stepped down. Either way, the military will have a keen interest.Global HeadlinesUnrest rages | Hong Kong saw one of its most violent days since protests began in June, with clashes between police and protesters leaving downtown areas paralyzed, transportation networks hobbled and two men clinging to life. The unrest raised more questions about police methods to dispel anti-government demonstrations. It also saw the biggest loss in Hong Kong stocks in about three months, underscoring fears about an economy already in recession.Yes men | Some of Donald Trump’s inner circle failed to check his effort to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden that set in motion the impeachment inquiry now engulfing his presidency. As Steven T. Dennis reports, transcripts released by House impeachment investigators offer no evidence that Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney or Secretary of State Michael Pompeo tried to restrain Trump, highlighting his preference for advisers who don’t question him.The start of public impeachment hearings in the House this week will test whether Democratic efforts to investigate Trump risk hurting the party in the 2020 election. Democrats signaled their willingness to let some witnesses requested by Republicans testify at the hearings, but only people with knowledge of the president’s actions. And not Hunter Biden or the whistle-blower whose complaint sparked the inquiry.Political deadlock | Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will struggle more than ever to form a government after his Socialist party lost seats in yesterday’s election. His is still the biggest party, but he has nowhere near a majority, even with the backing of his natural allies. Weak minority governments have become the new normal in Spain, and even that looks some way off for Sanchez.A continent burns | Australia is bracing for another week of devastating bushfires, with swaths of the eastern seaboard and areas of greater Sydney facing a “catastrophic” threat that’s unprecedented at this time of year. The devastation comes as the federal government refuses to link the crisis with climate change, vowing instead to prosecute those protesting against companies with large carbon footprints.Space threats | The U.S. intelligence community is updating its assessment of the space-warfare capabilities of Russia and China over concerns about advances in their ability to jam, ram or destroy satellites in orbit. As Tony Capaccio writes, Air Force General John Hyten, now the U.S.’s No. 2 military officer, requested the National Intelligence Estimate before he left his prior command at the U.S. Strategic Command.What to WatchRomanian President Klaus Iohannis won a first round election to set up a runoff in two weeks against a former prime minister, Democrat leader Viorica Dancila. European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels today and tomorrow to discuss Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Trump at the White House Wednesday amid lingering rifts over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile-defense system and a U.S. case against state-lender Halkbank on charges of evading sanctions on Iran. Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa gather in Brasilia for a two-day summit Wednesday and Thursday where Brazil is expected to try to convince China and Russia to drop support for Maduro. A Malaysian judge today ordered ex-premier Najib Razak to defend himself against all charges in the trial involving a former unit of troubled state-owned fund 1MDB. He’ll take the stand on Dec. 3 as the defense’s first witness.Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday and congratulations to reader Owais ur Rehman Maan, who was the first to name Emmanuel Macron as the person who described NATO as being in a state of “brain death.” Tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at [email protected] finally … Britain is under increasing pressure to return its last African colony, the tropical Chagos Islands. In February, the International Court of Justice ruled the 1965 excision of the islands from Mauritius unlawful because it wasn’t based on the free will of the people. The UN endorsed the ruling and now the clock is ticking towards the Nov. 22 deadline. Yet the U.K. insists it is not ceding control any time soon. \–With assistance from Karen Leigh and Ben Sills.To contact the author of this story: Rosalind Mathieson in London at [email protected] contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at [email protected], Karl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
November 11, 2019Read More
Gambia filed a case Monday at the United Nations’ highest court accusing Myanmar of genocide in its campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Gambia filed the case on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Myanmar’s military began a …
November 11, 2019Read More
Artur Widak/NurPhoto via GettyLONDON—At the 80th birthday party of comedian Joey Adams in the ballroom of an upmarket hotel overlooking Central Park in 1991, Donald Trump and Imelda Marcos sat side by side; two vulgar icons of ’80s greed and ambition.Imelda and her husband Ferdinand Marcos had been ousted from power five years earlier by a popular uprising in the Philippines where people had grown sick of their corruption and brutality. Trump was a loud-mouthed but ultimately powerless New York real estate mogul.Fifteen years later, in 2016, Trump was elected President of the United States and Marcos’ political clout was restored after a Filipino presidential election in which her son stood to be vice president and Rodrigo Duterte became the hardline president.The Marcos family are believed to have stolen more than $10 billion from the Filipino people during their 21-year reign. Ferdinand died in 1989, but in recent years, the family secretly helped to fund the rise of Duterte, a notorious homophobe and rape apologist who has bragged of executing drug-dealers in thousands of extrajudicial street killings.Trump is one of the few world leaders to have spoken warmly of Duterte and reportedly congratulated him on his approach to the drug trade.The great claim to fame of vaudevillian Joey Adams’ may be his invention of the one-liner: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”With friends like his, that’s no wonder.Imelda Marcos, who is now 90, is currently trying to help her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., overturn defeat in the 2016 vice-presidential election (after three years, Duterte’s judges are still refusing to reject his appeal). He is likely to run to succeed Duterte when his one-term limit comes to an end in 2022.If Imelda lives to see her son’s election as president, it would be an extraordinary return to power for a woman who was forced into exile as one of the world’s most mocked and disdained leaders, famous for collecting more than a thousand pairs of designer shoes while the angry populace was restrained under martial law.Her second rise has been expertly charted in Kingmaker by documentarian Lauren Greenfield, whose previous work includes the Sundance-feted The Queen of Versailles. Her new film offers a glimpse of the distorted inner monologue of a politician driven by autocratic tendencies.‘The Kingmaker’: A Scathing Portrait of the Female Donald TrumpImelda describes herself as a “mother” to the Philippines and its clear that she genuinely believes her kleptocratic rule blessed the nation. On screen we see her tutting over buildings that have been left to decay in the subsequent decades, while she passes out cash to needy citizens who squabble over the handouts. “I do think she believes her story,” Greenfield told the Daily Beast in London. “And the people around her don’t disabuse her of that. In a way she’s got her own delusions.”Greenfield spent five years filming the documentary, a period that spanned Imelda’s rise from a period as a lowly congresswoman to the rebirth of her power. “As we worked over the five years it became clear that they were coming back to power. And that this wasn’t a story about the past; it was a story about the present,” she said.That transformation was made possible by a change in the perception of the Marcos family, who were chased out of the country in disgrace 30 years ago. An aggressive use of social media as well as campaigning to have schools change the way the history of their reign was taught have helped to reinvent their reputation.“Perceptions are real, the truth is not,” says Imelda in the film.“She’s aware of the power of the media,” explained Greenfield. “She says ‘The gun can kill you only till the grave, and the media can kill you to infinity and beyond.’ And they’ve been very adept at using social media to communicate their talking points about martial law and the Marcos era. That was a really big part of how they seeded a lot of the ideas. Bongbong really went after the younger generation which didn’t really remember martial law.”Thus the Marcos family have succeeded in ingratiating themselves back into polite society and into the hearts of millions of voters.As the film begins, we are swept into Imelda’s attractive and rarefied world. “At first I found her kind and generous, and captivating and funny, and able to laugh at herself in a way that was kind of endearing. And then as I learned of the terrible and tragic consequences of the regime that she was complicit in, my view of her and also her version of history really changed,” Greenfield said.Kingmaker shows us both sides. The film’s brilliance lies in allowing us to see the autocrat’s delusion in still believing they speak for the common man. It’s a familiar theme.“Imelda talks about her friends who other people thought were monsters, but she thought were kind and generous like Saddam Hussein and Chairman Mao. It makes you think of Trump’s bedfellows and who he’s attracted to, like Putin and even Duterte,” said Greenfield.Imelda says Mao kissed her hand and congratulated her personally for ending the Cold War. She also claims to have given him the idea for the Cultural Revolution.By joining forces with Duterte, the Marcos family is emphasizing the continuity with a new generation of strongmen. “Duterte was really the expression of the terror of dictatorship coming back, they were leaning in to what happened and trying to get back there again,” said Greenfield.“It’s a cautionary tale for us about what happens when you don’t remember history; about the fragility of democracy and the return to authoritarian regimes,” the director said. “I didn’t start the movie as just being about the Philippines and I am pleased that people are seeing it as a reflection also of what’s going on in the U.S. and the rise of nationalism in Europe.”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.
November 11, 2019Read More
Iran on Monday awarded a top prize in the study of science and technology to two U.S.-educated scientists. Vice President Sourena Sattari granted the Mustafa award to five scientists, three Iranians and two Turks, during a ceremony. Among the recipie…
November 11, 2019Read More
The ongoing attempt to form a unity government in South Sudan is again failing to meet a deadline — it’s been pushed back 100 days. The U.S. is upset but can do little about it.
November 11, 2019Read More
The death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a setback for ISIS. But its ideology is thriving in places like Southeast Asia, where self-radicalization is a growing problem.
November 11, 2019Read More
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has kept a low profile at DHS. He’s facing criticism for his role in the administration’s family separation policy.
November 11, 2019Read More
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