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(Bloomberg) — Libya’s internationally-recognized government said it conducted airstrikes for the first time against the main forward airbase for eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, destroying a hangar containing drones and a Russian-made military …
July 26, 2019Read More
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade caused his fellow co-hosts to bust out laughing on Friday morning when he claimed that President Trump has a “policy of underreacting” when it comes to foreign policy.At the top of Friday’s broadcast of Trump’s favo…
July 26, 2019Read More
Iran test-launched a medium-range ballistic missile inside its borders, U.S. officials said Friday, defying Trump administration demands that it curtail the weapon program and demonstrating its intent to further push back against U.S. sanctions. The te…
July 26, 2019Read More
The US secretary of state said on Friday he was willing to travel to Iran for talks, as reports emerged that the regime had test-fired a medium-range missile. Mike Pompeo, who has taken a hard line against Tehran as part of a US maximum-pressure policy, also challenged Boris Johnson to overturn his predecessor’s decision not to join a US operation to protect ships from Iranian attacks. “Sure. If that’s the call, I’d happily go there,” he told Bloomberg. “I would welcome the chance to speak directly to the people.” Tensions between Iran and the US have ratcheted up since last year, when President Donald Trump withdrew America from the nuclear deal, saying it was not strong enough. Mr Trump and Iranian leaders have both publicly said talks were possible, but the prospect for dialogue appeared to recede on Wednesday when the top military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran would not negotiate with Washington under any circumstances. British Royal Navy’s HMS Montrose, a Type 23 Frigate, performing turns during exercise “Marstrike 05”, off the coast of Oman Credit: AFP As Mr Pompeo made his offer, it emerged that the regime had Wednesday night tested what appeared to be a medium-range ballistic missile, according to a US defence official quoted in US media. The Shahab-3 missile was launched from the southern coast of Iran and landed east of Tehran. It flew about 680 miles and stayed inside Iran for the entire flight. Missile launches are not a violation of the nuclear deal that Iran signed in 2015 with the US and other world powers, including the UK. President Trump, however, wants to see Tehran’s missile programme curbed as part of a new deal he wants to hammer out with the Iranian regime. Mr Pompeo also called on Britain and other nations to join a maritime force to guard oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. Theresa May and her foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected an offer from the US to join Operation Sentinel before leaving office, choosing instead to join a separate European protection force. The decision has faced criticism after the British tanker Stena Impero was seized by Iran, triggering questions about whether enough had been done to ensure protection. “Every country that has an interest in ensuring that those waterways are open and crude oil and other products can flow through the Strait of Hormuz needs to participate,” Mr Pompeo said, adding that Washington had already asked Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, Australia and other nations. Mr Pompeo discussed Iran during a call on Thursday with his new UK counterpart, Dominic Raab, who has been appointed Foreign Secretary by Mr Johnson. It remains unclear whether a Johnson government will substantially change the approach to Iran adopted during Mrs May’s premiership. A senior diplomat in Japan, Washington’s key Asian ally, said that Tokyo was not in a position to decide if or how it could join any maritime force until the US provided a blueprint of how such an operation would work. Meanwhile, Iran and the UK are still locked in a stand-off over the fate of two impounded ships. However, Tehran on Friday released nine Indian crew members from a Panama-flagged tanker they seized on July 14 for allegedly smuggling Iranian fuel.
July 26, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — Less than 24 hours after Boris Johnson walked into 10 Downing Street, some of his Brexiteer supporters were already worried he was going to betray them.One senior member of the European Research Group, a caucus of Tory MPs pushing for a …
July 26, 2019Read More
North Korea’s economy shrank in 2018 by the most in 21 years after being hit by punishing sanctions to curb its nuclear weapons programme and after drought damaged its farming sector, South Korea’s central bank revealed on Friday. The gloomy financial news followed a stark warning last week from the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies that rates of malnutrition and disease are increasing because of the poor harvest. The impact of natural and political crises will compound pressure on Kim Jong-un’s regime to move forward with denuclearisation talks with the US and growing frustration about the worsening economy could help fuel an escalation of tensions in the absence of any progress. The bank’s estimates showed that North Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 4.1% last year in real terms, the worst since 1997 and the second consecutive year of decline after a 3.5% fall in 2017. North Korea’s international trade fell 48.4% in value in 2018 as toughened international sanctions cut exports by nearly 90%, the worst loss in exports since the central bank started publishing data nearly 30 years ago. “Sanctions that were added and strengthened in 2017 had a severe impact as drought hurt the farming sector, which accounts for more than 20% of output,” Park Yung-hwan, said head of the Bank of Korea’s National Accounts Coordination Team, according to Reuters. International food aid has been given to the Pyongyang Children’s Foodstuff factory Credit: Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph North Korea does not disclose any statistics on its economy, but the South Korean central bank has been publishing estimates since 1991. However, last November, Ri Gi Song, one of the country’s leading economists admitted to the Telegraph that harsh US-led sanctions were slowing down the reclusive state’s economic progress. “Frankly, if there were no sanctions our development pace would be much faster than now,” said Mr Ri, a professor at the Pyongyang Institute of Social Sciences professor and government adviser. His admission offers some context to Pyongyang’s growing impatience over the slow pace of negotiations with the US and South Korea over the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons facilities. North Korea has demanded an easing of sanctions before continuing with disarmament talks, but the US is unwilling to step back from its “maximum pressure” strategy unless Pyongyang moves first. The impasse led to the collapse of a summit between Kim and Donald Trump, the US president, in Hanoi in February, and although the two leaders met briefly on the border between South and North Korea in June, talks have not resumed since. Drought has also hit the farming sector Credit: Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph The recent troubles have hit an economy already functioning badly because of inefficiencies and isolation, but the elites of the country’s 25 million population are unlikely to feel the pinch. Last week a report by the Washington-based Centre for Advanced Studies (C4ADS) revealed that North Korea used a complex series of schemes to import at least $191 million worth of luxury goods from 2015 to 2017, sourced from “as many as 90 countries” in breach of United Nations sanctions. Meanwhile, the North’s poor are bearing the brunt of the country’s pariah status over its costly pursuit of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US. “We are already seeing the impacts of this drought on vulnerable people,” Mohamed Babiker, head of the IFRC’s office in North Korea, said in a statement last week. “Rates of malnutrition and water borne diseases like diarrhea and colitis are on the rise.” South Korea’s intelligence agency also briefed parliamentarians rainfall in North Korea has fallen by more than 30% this year from a year before, deepening its cash crunch. “North Korea is expected to exhaust its crop reserves earlier than usual this year,” Lee Eun-jae, one of those briefed, later told reporters.
July 26, 2019Read More
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday that the only way to reach a deal on Brexit is to abolish the so-called Irish backstop, a spokesman for Johnson said in a statement. “He said the only solution that wo…
July 26, 2019Read More
Persistent fears of a no-deal Brexit continue to cap any attempted up-move. The prevalent USD bullish sentiment further adds to the bearish pressure. The GBP/USD pair built on the previous session’s rebound from weekly lows and gained some follow-thr…
July 26, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — A dispute over fueling Iranian ships stranded off the coast of Brazil is putting the spotlight on the South American agricultural giant’s approach to the Middle East, a major buyer of Brazilian corn, sugar and poultry.President Jair Bols…
July 26, 2019Read More
Libya’s coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound migrants who perished at sea as search operations continued Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned after their boats capsiz…
July 26, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg Opinion) — Women, homosexuals, northeasteners—scientists. The list of constituencies slighted by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has just grown longer.His latest target: The National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE, which rec…
July 26, 2019Read More
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