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EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has told Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the bloc’s member nations will not give in to his demand to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal treaty. Juncker and Johnson had their first phone conversati…
July 25, 2019Read More
Donald Trump has vetoed three congressional resolutions to block the billion-dollar sales of weapons to key allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.In a strong rebuke to Mr Trump, both chambers of Congress had voted to prevent the arms deals earlier this month, shortly after the leader had taken the extraordinary step of bypassing Congress to approve them in May.Members had cited concerns about the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi within the country’s consulate in Istanbul last year.They also expressed fears the weapons may be used against civilians in Yemen, where the US’s Gulf partners are spearheading a five-year bombing campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.On Wednesday Mr Trump once again moved to force through the deals by vetoing the resolutions.He said the resolutions “would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships we share with our allies and partner.”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the president’s move “shameful”.”The president’s shameful veto tramples over the will of the bipartisan, bicameral Congress and perpetuates his administration’s involvement in the horrific conflict in Yemen, which is a stain on the conscience of the world,” she said in a statement.Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said it was a “slap in the face” to Congress and accused the Trump administration of using threats from Iran as a “convenient excuse” to push through the sale.”The president’s veto sends a grim message that America’s foreign policy is no longer rooted in our core values – namely a respect for human rights – and that he views Congress not as a coequal branch of government, but an irritant to be avoided or ignored,” he added. It did not appear that the lawmakers opposed to the sale had enough votes to override Trump’s veto.The White House argues that stopping the $8.1 billion arms sales would send a signal that the United States does not stand by its allies, at a time when threats against them are increasing.Tensions have reached breaking point between Tehran and Washington, after the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and piled more sanctions on the country.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said the sales were the administration responding to an emergency caused by Iran, both the US’s and Saudi Arabia’s arch foe. The arms package are set to include thousands of precision-guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support.The initial May decision to bypass congressional review sparked fury among lawmakers and saw Democrats and Republicans band together in a rare joint move against the administration.It marked one of the few times the Republican-led Senate has opposed Mr Trump’s foreign policy.News agencies contributed to this report
July 25, 2019Read More
The leader of Tunisia’s parliament has been sworn in as the interim president of the North African country after 92-year-old President Beji Essebsi died in office. The state news agency TAP reported that Mohamed Ennaceur, president of the Assembly of …
July 25, 2019Read More
Turkish media say Turkey’s military has struck and killed the alleged planners of an attack that killed a Turkish diplomat in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Private DHA news agency says Thursday the military, acting on Turkish intelligence, ta…
July 25, 2019Read More
Prime Minister Boris Johnson met his Brexiteer-dominated team of senior ministers on Thursday and said his new government was fully committed to the “momentous task” of leading Britain out of the European Union by Oct. 31. Johnson’s dramatic rise to B…
July 25, 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.Much of Europe is bracing for the hottest day of the year, with record temperatures forecast for Germany, France and the U.K.Whether it’s drought in India, wildfires in California and Siberia, or flooding in Argentina, the impact of freak weather events attributed to climate change is being felt worldwide, and forcing itself onto governments’ radars.Voters in seven European Union countries now name climate change as their No. 1 concern, above the economy, jobs or immigration. Incoming EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to make environmental policy the bloc’s top priority.That’s not without contention, with major coal-burning countries like Poland wary of moves to tax carbon. In places like the U.S., Australia and Canada, climate and the environment is a key electoral battleground.It’s not necessarily a left-right political issue. China is making inroads in battling air pollution, while Boris Johnson referenced the U.K.’s effort to tackle climate change in his first speech as prime minister yesterday. Emmanuel Macron put climate at the heart of France’s Group of Seven presidency, and the current heatwave bolsters his case at next month’s G-7 leaders summit.For President Donald Trump, simply pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord hasn’t made the issue disappear.Global Headlines Great purge | On his first day as U.K. prime minister, Johnson took an ax to his predecessor’s cabinet and populated the top ranks of government with like-minded Brexit hardliners. It was a new, brutal-yet-efficient side that emerged in a man who has undergone a startling transformation from has-been to undisputed leader in 12 months.Missiles aloft | North Korea fired two missiles into the sea off its east coast, raising the stakes just before stalled nuclear disarmament talks with the U.S. were set to get back on track. Leader Kim Jong Un has pressed Trump to drop sanctions choking his state’s economy, and the tests may have been a reminder that if the dealings sour, Pyongyang has weapons capable of quickly striking American military bases and allies.Tricky path | Two hundred days into her second stint as U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is waging battles on her right and her left as well as against the calendar. The Democrats’ lead combatant with Trump is trying to keep ideological fissures from becoming yawning chasms that will hobble her party in the 2020 election.Click here for more on House passage of pension legislation aimed at giving Democrats an edge next year with voters in the Midwest’s union-heavy states. And read more about Democratic presidential aspirants’ efforts to lock down black voter support in the latest edition of Bloomberg’s Campaign Update.Leadership void | Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello’s resignation is fomenting fresh uncertainty in the U.S. commonwealth as it struggles back from a ruinous hurricane and navigates a record bankruptcy. Rossello, whose decision follows two weeks of protests, was undone by popular fury after the publication of profane, vengeful and misogynistic text messages among him and his aides.Fire sale | An investor darling who oversaw a 2,400% surge in shares of Latin America’s largest car rental company is leading one of Brazil’s biggest privatization efforts yet. As Rachel Gamarski reports, former Localiza CEO Jose Salim Mattar is on a mission to sell more than 100 state-controlled companies as President Jair Bolsonaro seeks to deliver on his promise to offload assets in a bid to spark much-needed investments and boost public accounts.What to WatchTurkey’s central bank is expected to lower interest rates today — estimates of how much vary from 50 basis points to 8 percentage points — after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan installed Murat Uysal as governor, having fired his predecessor for failing to cut sooner. Spain’s Socialist party rejected demands made by a key potential coalition partner, pushing Pedro Sanchez’s bid to stay on as prime minister to the brink of failure and making a fourth election in as many years more likely. The U.K. and France are among U.S. allies spurning the Trump administration’s call for a coalition to protect ships passing through the Persian Gulf amid Iranian attacks on tankers and drones, Nick Wadhams reports.And finally…A Swedish prosecutor has charged U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky and two other people held in remand since July 5 on suspicion of committing an assault in Stockholm. The case has drawn unusual diplomatic attention after Trump announced he’d offered to “personally vouch” for the performer’s bail in a phone call with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. Musician Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian West had lobbied Trump to intervene. \–With assistance from Kathleen Hunter, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Jon Herskovitz and Rosalind Mathieson.To contact the author of this story: Alan Crawford in Berlin at [email protected] contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at [email protected], Anthony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
July 25, 2019Read More
Russian investigators summoned a number of opposition politicians for questioning Thursday after the authorities staged night-time raids and jailed top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for 30 days. The crackdown comes as opposition politicians fight to g…
July 25, 2019Read More
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyTEL AVIV—It was already late afternoon Tuesday local time when a call came in from a contact several time zones away. “A strange story is making the rounds in the Iranian press,” said the contact, who tracks s…
July 25, 2019Read More
Donald Trump appeared at a right-wing rally in front of a fake presidential seal, doctored to make apparently satiric references to Russia and golf.The tweaked image flashed up on a screen behind the president as he spoke to a summit hosted by the cons…
July 25, 2019Read More
Former special counsel Robert Mueller told House lawmakers that Russian interference is a continuing threat to U.S. elections. Capitol Hill is focusing new attention on election security.
July 25, 2019Read More
A federal judge in San Francisco blocked a Trump administration rule requiring most asylum-seekers to ask for protection in another country before they cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
July 25, 2019Read More
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