Ditch the Playbook, Just Follow Buffett and Trump: Taking Stock
By Brad Olesen
August 31, 2018, 9:32 PM GMT+10
Whatever your game plan was to close out what became one of the busiest Augusts in recent memory was likely rendered moot late Thursday on a Bloomberg report that Trump is seeking to move ahead on tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, subject to a public comment period that concludes Sept. 6. What was already a middling day hovering around the unchanged mark became markedly worse for the S&P 500, as this round of tariffs would be the largest thus far in the trade saga. Materials and the trade-sensitive industrial names like Caterpillar and Kansas City Southern were among stocks hit on the news, as money shifted to more defensive sectors like utilities and staples, with tobacco and food retailer sub-sectors the best performers on the day.
Worldwide markets are in the red early Friday as commerce and trade fears reemerge (Trump also threatened to pull out of the WTO), despite China PMI figures that were better than expected. S&P futures appear to be holding up rather well, poised to open below its newfound “support” at 2,900. Equity indexes have been resilient in the face of Trump shocks before, and today looks no different (on pace to post a weekly gain).
But What Happened Before the Bombshell?
It’s tempting to allow the Oval Office news to wipe away all of yesterday’s action, which featured Warren Buffett again singing the praises of equity markets. His commentary spurred a round of buying, especially in Apple (which also announced its next presumed iPhone unveiling for Sept. 12) as he admitted to buying more shares. This was timely as by the end of the day, the top four names pushing against losses in the S&P were, you guessed it, FAANG names (AAPL, AMZN, FB, NFLX). Rounding out the top five was Micron, mentioned in this column Thursday (its suppliers LRCX and AMAT were also higher, as the S5SEEQ index was among the top performing subsectors in an otherwise down-ish day).
AMZN and FB are now marginally lower in the pre-market (GOOGL ever so slightly post-market) after Trump singled the three out as a possible “antitrust situation.” China Internet names too (HUYA, BABA, IQ), are also down pre-market, likely on renewed tensions. Other parts of the interview touched on Trump’s rejection of the EU tariff offer on autos, leading all members of the EURO STOXX Automobiles & Parts index into the red. Watch U.S. names GM, F, GT and CTB for volatility.
There was also a bit of merger mania Thursday ahead of the long weekend in the U.S. (CPB asset sale plans, REXX, REIS/MCO, PARR, KTWO/SYK), which continued into this morning with Coca-Cola’s expansion into the coffee market in a $5.1 billion deal to buy U.K. coffee shop Costa from Whitbread Plc (watch KDP, DNKN, QSR, KKD, SBUX).
M&A led most of the names in the green, while discounters and dollar stores suffered (mainly DLTR). Closeout retailer Big Lots hit the tape with their earnings and early indications are for shares to open down 11 percent given a weaker-than-expected forecast.
And Wasn’t Today Supposed to Be NAFTA Day?
Friday was supposed to be about welcoming a deal from U.S. and Canadian officials on NAFTA, validating strength in equity indices earlier in the week while assisting the “melt-up.”
We were also supposed to be wary of contagion from emerging markets. The Turkish lira had resumed its downward move after a brief respite, giving up 11 percent of its value over the past four days (keep the ETF TUR in mind), while Argentina’s peso lost a third of its value in the two days since the government requested the IMF speed disbursements from a credit line (ETF ARGT had its worst day on Thursday in three years, and counts cult-ish name MercadoLibre as a top holding at 31 percent). This appears to be spreading with weakness in the Indonesian rupiah (weakest in 20 years) and the Indian rupee early (touched record lows).
We also wanted to take solace in knowing athleisure is alive and well, with Lululemon stock up 11 percent pre-market market with results. The COO said the demand in recent quarters was not slowing down. In a similar apparel vein we were to be curious if Abercrombie could recover from its worst day in more than a year after sales missed expectations.
And surely, cannabis was to be a topic of conversation as the news bombs keep driving this segment. Trump met his match with Citron Research’s Andrew Left, who waded into Cronos (previously unscathed from Wednesday’s report that the Administration was waging a "secret war" on marijuana), by cautioning on its valuation and placing a price target 70 percent below where it had then traded. Cronos extended its losses in the post-market after closing down 28 percent. It remains up 58 percent on the month despite the move. Fellow cannabis names TLRY, CGC fell in sympathy. Citron’s prior cannabis target, CV Sciences, staged a 27 percent recovery Thursday after it attempted to refute short seller allegations (and Citron claimed to have covered its short a day earlier).
Cloud software developer and new IPO Zuora is also due for an interesting day. Its lockup expiry today coincides with its second earnings report, which disappointed investors post market (-12 percent), as 3Q loss views came in worse than expected. This follows its last earnings report where it spiked 19 percent. In other earnings, American Outdoor Brands (formerly Smith and Wesson) spiked 29 percent post-market after its better than expected results -- now poised to erase much of its underperforming year (down 24 percent YTD).
On Tap for Next Week
A re-categorization of investor favorites will unfold with the heralded (?) creation of the Communication Services sector, which will include FAANG components FB, GOOGL and NFLX that were lumped into the Info Tech segment previously. These mega caps will now be part of a larger space that is comprised of other telecoms and media names and amount to ~10 percent of the S&P 500, according to Goldman Sachs.
Conference season is upon us. B Riley FBR Healthcare conference kicks off Tuesday in this abreviated holiday week, and the energy sector will be focus as the Barclays Energy Power conference gets underway Wednesday with crude up 16% year to date. Barclays is also running a Consumer Staples conference where we can hear from CAG, TUP, among others. Buckingham has its banking, cards and payments conference (any crypto commentary?). Citi is featuring Biotechs and Technology in conferences this week (two of some of the best performing sectors on the year).
Earnings is light, with earnings from Broadcom, furniture retailer RH, Gamestop and some tech names WDAY, PANW, MRVL and the deal-exposed Dell Technologies. Economic data will feature some key catalysts including monthly auto sales on Tuesday, ADP Employment data on Thursday (a day later than normal due to the Holiday week), and the much awaited Nonfarm Payrolls data Friday.
Notes From the Sell Side
Electronic Arts is getting a slight defense from one its largest bulls. Wedbush (has EA on its Best Ideas list) saw the surprise decision to delay its Battlefield V release date as the right decision in efforts to add extra polish to the game. Analyst Michael Pachter lowers units ests. for FY19, but keeps FY20 estimates for revenue and PT at $158 (implies 36% upside after Thursday’s near 10% downdraft).
Nutanix is getting multiple defenses after shares fell 6% post market. RBC’s Matthew Hedberg is a buyer on the weakness as the results were "strong". He sees the push towards a software-only model as a key highlight with high FCF margins. Piper’s Andrew J. Nowinski reiterates his overweight rating. Nowinski sees the cloud platform and storage provider’s new term-based subscription offering as outweighing the higher operating expense guidance.
Friday, August 31, 2018
Trump poised to cut all US funding for key UN Palestinian refugee programme - Guardian
Trump poised to cut all US funding for key UN Palestinian refugee programme
US administration to withdraw from services affecting 5 million people, reports say
Peter Beaumont and Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem
Fri 31 Aug 2018
Puplis gather in front of a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City.
Puplis gather in front of a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City. Photograph: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images
The Trump administration is planning to cut all remaining US funding for the main UN programme for Palestinian refugees, with potentially devastating impacts, and is lobbying other countries to follow suit.
The move, reported in several US media outlets, has been anticipated both by senior officials at the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other Washington insiders, who told the Guardian the defunding could be announced as early as next week.
Speculation about the future of US funding for the agency, which provides services to more than five million Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, comes as European and Arab countries pledged to protect the agency and Germany promised a significant increase in financial backing.
The Guardian view on Trump’s Palestinian policy: setting fire to the ground
Read more
The threat emerged days after the US announced it was withdrawing $200mfrom its main development agency, USAid, for programmes based largely in Gaza where they help tens of thousands of people.
According to a report in the Washington Post, the Trump administration will use the announcement of its cessation of UNRWA funding to push for a huge reduction in the number of Palestinians officially registered as refugees.
US president Donald Trump. Photograph: Brian Cahn/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
The reported aim was to reduce those designated as refugees from five million to around 500,000, representing only those who were physically displaced from their homes when the agency was created seven decades ago, thus excluding millions of their descendants.
The US has long been the largest individual donor to UNRWA, pledging about one third of the agency’s $1.1bn annual budget, but earlier this year the administration cut a scheduled UNRWA payment of $130m to $65m, saying the agency needed to make unspecified reforms and calling on the Palestinians to renew peace talks.
The move has been widely interpreted in both Israel and Palestine as a blunt move by the US to unilaterally sweep aside one of the main sticking points in peace negotiations – the right of return of Palestinians.
Asked on Tuesday if the US should “get the right of return off the table”, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said she thought it should.
“I do agree with that … I absolutely think we have to look at right of return.”
Yaakov Amidror, a retired major general and former national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said closing UNRWA “in the long run, no question, is the right move to do”.
“Reduction in funds is one way to shut up and close UNRWA. How do you do it? By saying, ‘UNRWA, you don’t exist any more, with all due respect.’”
The German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said: “The loss of this organisation could unleash an uncontrollable chain reaction.”
Berlin has pledged to significantly increase its funding to the agency.
Trump’s cut to funding for Palestinian refugees could lead to disaster
Mick Dumper
Read more
The issue of Palestinian refugees, and whether those abroad would be allowed to return to a future Palestinian state or be compensated, is one of the three key issues at the heart of the Middle East peace process, along with the status of Jerusalem and the borders of that state.
Trump has already unilaterally intervened on the Jerusalem issue in Israel’s favour by recognising it as the Israeli capital.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israel war and the exodus of around 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel on its founding as a state. Netanyahu has said UNRWA should be abolished and its responsibilities taken over by the main UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
There had been speculation for some time that the Trump administration had been moving in this direction, amid unconfirmed claims that senior officials had suggested to at least one host country that UNRWA funding for Palestinian refugees there could be replaced by bilateral US funding.
Trump cuts jeopardise lives of millions of Palestinian refugees, UN warns
Read more
Critics have suggested US threats to cut aid to persuade Palestinians to accept a peace plan is a crude form of leverage. Aaron David Miller, tje head of the Middle East programme at the Wilson centre thinktank and a former Middle East adviser to several US secretaries of state, told the Guardian he believed such an approach was in line with a “transactional” foreign policy embraced by Trump.
“This is part of a broader issue with a president who sees every alliance as a transaction. We have seen it with the Europeans with Nato and we have seen it with Syria as well. This is clearly a political campaign to pressure [the Palestinians] as well as to save money, and it’s a deadly combination.”
Miller, like many in the foreign policy establishment, argues that there will never be a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue that satisfies Palestinians, but said UNRWA “serves a need” acknowledged by many Israeli officials even as they have campaigned against it.
US administration to withdraw from services affecting 5 million people, reports say
Peter Beaumont and Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem
Fri 31 Aug 2018
Puplis gather in front of a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City.
Puplis gather in front of a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City. Photograph: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images
The Trump administration is planning to cut all remaining US funding for the main UN programme for Palestinian refugees, with potentially devastating impacts, and is lobbying other countries to follow suit.
The move, reported in several US media outlets, has been anticipated both by senior officials at the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other Washington insiders, who told the Guardian the defunding could be announced as early as next week.
Speculation about the future of US funding for the agency, which provides services to more than five million Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, comes as European and Arab countries pledged to protect the agency and Germany promised a significant increase in financial backing.
The Guardian view on Trump’s Palestinian policy: setting fire to the ground
Read more
The threat emerged days after the US announced it was withdrawing $200mfrom its main development agency, USAid, for programmes based largely in Gaza where they help tens of thousands of people.
According to a report in the Washington Post, the Trump administration will use the announcement of its cessation of UNRWA funding to push for a huge reduction in the number of Palestinians officially registered as refugees.
US president Donald Trump. Photograph: Brian Cahn/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
The reported aim was to reduce those designated as refugees from five million to around 500,000, representing only those who were physically displaced from their homes when the agency was created seven decades ago, thus excluding millions of their descendants.
The US has long been the largest individual donor to UNRWA, pledging about one third of the agency’s $1.1bn annual budget, but earlier this year the administration cut a scheduled UNRWA payment of $130m to $65m, saying the agency needed to make unspecified reforms and calling on the Palestinians to renew peace talks.
The move has been widely interpreted in both Israel and Palestine as a blunt move by the US to unilaterally sweep aside one of the main sticking points in peace negotiations – the right of return of Palestinians.
Asked on Tuesday if the US should “get the right of return off the table”, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said she thought it should.
“I do agree with that … I absolutely think we have to look at right of return.”
Yaakov Amidror, a retired major general and former national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said closing UNRWA “in the long run, no question, is the right move to do”.
“Reduction in funds is one way to shut up and close UNRWA. How do you do it? By saying, ‘UNRWA, you don’t exist any more, with all due respect.’”
The German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said: “The loss of this organisation could unleash an uncontrollable chain reaction.”
Berlin has pledged to significantly increase its funding to the agency.
Trump’s cut to funding for Palestinian refugees could lead to disaster
Mick Dumper
Read more
The issue of Palestinian refugees, and whether those abroad would be allowed to return to a future Palestinian state or be compensated, is one of the three key issues at the heart of the Middle East peace process, along with the status of Jerusalem and the borders of that state.
Trump has already unilaterally intervened on the Jerusalem issue in Israel’s favour by recognising it as the Israeli capital.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israel war and the exodus of around 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel on its founding as a state. Netanyahu has said UNRWA should be abolished and its responsibilities taken over by the main UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
There had been speculation for some time that the Trump administration had been moving in this direction, amid unconfirmed claims that senior officials had suggested to at least one host country that UNRWA funding for Palestinian refugees there could be replaced by bilateral US funding.
Trump cuts jeopardise lives of millions of Palestinian refugees, UN warns
Read more
Critics have suggested US threats to cut aid to persuade Palestinians to accept a peace plan is a crude form of leverage. Aaron David Miller, tje head of the Middle East programme at the Wilson centre thinktank and a former Middle East adviser to several US secretaries of state, told the Guardian he believed such an approach was in line with a “transactional” foreign policy embraced by Trump.
“This is part of a broader issue with a president who sees every alliance as a transaction. We have seen it with the Europeans with Nato and we have seen it with Syria as well. This is clearly a political campaign to pressure [the Palestinians] as well as to save money, and it’s a deadly combination.”
Miller, like many in the foreign policy establishment, argues that there will never be a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue that satisfies Palestinians, but said UNRWA “serves a need” acknowledged by many Israeli officials even as they have campaigned against it.
Movie madness: Why Chinese cinemas are empty but full - BBC News
Movie madness: Why Chinese cinemas are empty but full
By Stephen McDonell
BBC News, Beijing
31 August 2018
Chinese movie theatres may appear to be sold out online, but in reality could be completely empty
For a country which will soon assume the mantle of the world's largest cinema audience, China comes out with a surprising number of big budget B-grade flops.
Some blame this on censorship, others on a lack of creativity but there are also those who see a more sinister force at work, which has nothing to do with film-making.
It also has nothing to do with selling tickets: at least not real ones.
Some investors are apparently financially backing movies with the sole goal of boosting their stock price that can shift on the perception of a movie's performance, irrespective of its true popularity.
Chinese film critic and industry observer Raymond Zhou has been digging into the darker side of film financing in his country.
"When you have a hit film, your stock price will go up several times in terms of market valuation compared with the grosses from the box office so some 'financial genius', came up with this idea: Why don't I have fake box office numbers so that I can make much more money from the stock market?" he said.
Box office manipulation is a growing problem in China, says one film critic
I asked if it could really be true that producers were seeking to make money in ways that had nothing to do with putting bums on seats in theatres; nothing to do with making beautiful films?
China's most expensive film bombs on debut
China puts limit on film stars' pay
"The natural way is to make a good movie and then your stock price will go up right?" he responded.
"But some people have reversed this equation. They have seen the rise of the stock price as the ultimate goal and have just used the making of the movie as an excuse."
Phantom tickets
So what is actually happening?
According to Chinese government investigators, certain production and investment companies have developed ways of faking box office results.
Then, if these publicly available figures appear to show that a film is doing well, people will buy shares in the companies which paid for the movie.
So a film might be on in the cinema and one of the companies which paid for it might buy out entire late night screenings. These will register as full houses when they are, in reality, entirely empty theatres.
The movie challenging China's cinematic gay taboo
Chinese animation blocked in France
Regulators have been catching onto this so producers have allegedly started just buying all the bad seats across many hours of screenings.
Yet the authorities have now worked out that if a showing is somewhat empty in the middle and for some reason all the seats around the walls have been purchased something must be amiss.
You might wonder, if box office manipulation has been a broad problem within the Chinese film industry, if it's still worthwhile financially.
How many hundreds of thousands of seats would a company need to buy to boost the figures enough to make a difference to its own stock price?
Well what if the cinema chain is also an investor? It can just sell itself the phantom tickets for free.
Asura (L) was China's most expensive film, and one of its biggest flops
Cinema journalist John Papish is an expert in the Chinese box office and says considerable conflicts of interests in this country would be illegal in, say, the United States.
"An owner of an exhibitor can also distribute their own movies and use their cinemas as a launching pad," he said.
"They can manipulate the number of screenings in their own cinemas. Often times the third party ticketing apps also have their hands in the promotion of the films so they can push a film that they have an interest in; that they have invested in themselves."
So, in effect, a company - or connected companies - can distribute the film, have ownership of the theatres and then maybe also involve those selling the tickets. Even those apps rating the film could potentially have a financial stake.
'Cook the books'
Some films are also suspected of being used as a method of getting around China's laws designed to restrict capital flight.
This country has an annual international transfer limit per person of $50,000 (£38,921) without official clearance.
But you can "cook the books", according to Mr Zhou, if your movie is hiring international actors or even set and costume designers.
For example, in your budget, you might say you are paying a Hollywood star $10m but you're really only paying them $2m.
The other $8m you can transfer offshore without questions. And most importantly without the need to collect official Chinese receipts.
"Inside China we have this very strict invoice system," says Mr Zhou.
"Receipts can be checked and double checked using the super computers of the tax bureau. But once a lot of overseas talent or overseas service providers are involved then the system doesn't work and money can legally be moved off shore."
He thinks the authorities must be onto this and are likely to be looking at ways of closing the loophole.
This is not to say that China no longer has honest, committed filmmakers producing quality work.
The low budget drama "Dying to Survive", about a group of hapless criminals trying to smuggle cheap cancer drugs, has been described as showing what's best about this country's cinema, as well as being hugely popular.
Dying to Survive has proven to be a box office hit
Yet the Chinese government knows there is something rotten going on which needs to be cleaned up.
The National People's Congress has introduced fines for misreported box office figures ranging from $7000 to $74,000 and the authorities are allowing the Motion Picture Association of America to use an accounting firm to audit box office data here.
Communist Party anti-corruption investigators say they are now chasing a high-profile producer, who they've accused of fraud, claiming that he is currently on the run in the United States.
However there still seems to be no move to break up the vested interests in Chinese movie making, which many analysts believe will continue to pump out poor quality fare as long as there is money to be made - irrespective of how many actually people go to see the film.
By Stephen McDonell
BBC News, Beijing
31 August 2018
Chinese movie theatres may appear to be sold out online, but in reality could be completely empty
For a country which will soon assume the mantle of the world's largest cinema audience, China comes out with a surprising number of big budget B-grade flops.
Some blame this on censorship, others on a lack of creativity but there are also those who see a more sinister force at work, which has nothing to do with film-making.
It also has nothing to do with selling tickets: at least not real ones.
Some investors are apparently financially backing movies with the sole goal of boosting their stock price that can shift on the perception of a movie's performance, irrespective of its true popularity.
Chinese film critic and industry observer Raymond Zhou has been digging into the darker side of film financing in his country.
"When you have a hit film, your stock price will go up several times in terms of market valuation compared with the grosses from the box office so some 'financial genius', came up with this idea: Why don't I have fake box office numbers so that I can make much more money from the stock market?" he said.
Box office manipulation is a growing problem in China, says one film critic
I asked if it could really be true that producers were seeking to make money in ways that had nothing to do with putting bums on seats in theatres; nothing to do with making beautiful films?
China's most expensive film bombs on debut
China puts limit on film stars' pay
"The natural way is to make a good movie and then your stock price will go up right?" he responded.
"But some people have reversed this equation. They have seen the rise of the stock price as the ultimate goal and have just used the making of the movie as an excuse."
Phantom tickets
So what is actually happening?
According to Chinese government investigators, certain production and investment companies have developed ways of faking box office results.
Then, if these publicly available figures appear to show that a film is doing well, people will buy shares in the companies which paid for the movie.
So a film might be on in the cinema and one of the companies which paid for it might buy out entire late night screenings. These will register as full houses when they are, in reality, entirely empty theatres.
The movie challenging China's cinematic gay taboo
Chinese animation blocked in France
Regulators have been catching onto this so producers have allegedly started just buying all the bad seats across many hours of screenings.
Yet the authorities have now worked out that if a showing is somewhat empty in the middle and for some reason all the seats around the walls have been purchased something must be amiss.
You might wonder, if box office manipulation has been a broad problem within the Chinese film industry, if it's still worthwhile financially.
How many hundreds of thousands of seats would a company need to buy to boost the figures enough to make a difference to its own stock price?
Well what if the cinema chain is also an investor? It can just sell itself the phantom tickets for free.
Asura (L) was China's most expensive film, and one of its biggest flops
Cinema journalist John Papish is an expert in the Chinese box office and says considerable conflicts of interests in this country would be illegal in, say, the United States.
"An owner of an exhibitor can also distribute their own movies and use their cinemas as a launching pad," he said.
"They can manipulate the number of screenings in their own cinemas. Often times the third party ticketing apps also have their hands in the promotion of the films so they can push a film that they have an interest in; that they have invested in themselves."
So, in effect, a company - or connected companies - can distribute the film, have ownership of the theatres and then maybe also involve those selling the tickets. Even those apps rating the film could potentially have a financial stake.
'Cook the books'
Some films are also suspected of being used as a method of getting around China's laws designed to restrict capital flight.
This country has an annual international transfer limit per person of $50,000 (£38,921) without official clearance.
But you can "cook the books", according to Mr Zhou, if your movie is hiring international actors or even set and costume designers.
For example, in your budget, you might say you are paying a Hollywood star $10m but you're really only paying them $2m.
The other $8m you can transfer offshore without questions. And most importantly without the need to collect official Chinese receipts.
"Inside China we have this very strict invoice system," says Mr Zhou.
"Receipts can be checked and double checked using the super computers of the tax bureau. But once a lot of overseas talent or overseas service providers are involved then the system doesn't work and money can legally be moved off shore."
He thinks the authorities must be onto this and are likely to be looking at ways of closing the loophole.
This is not to say that China no longer has honest, committed filmmakers producing quality work.
The low budget drama "Dying to Survive", about a group of hapless criminals trying to smuggle cheap cancer drugs, has been described as showing what's best about this country's cinema, as well as being hugely popular.
Dying to Survive has proven to be a box office hit
Yet the Chinese government knows there is something rotten going on which needs to be cleaned up.
The National People's Congress has introduced fines for misreported box office figures ranging from $7000 to $74,000 and the authorities are allowing the Motion Picture Association of America to use an accounting firm to audit box office data here.
Communist Party anti-corruption investigators say they are now chasing a high-profile producer, who they've accused of fraud, claiming that he is currently on the run in the United States.
However there still seems to be no move to break up the vested interests in Chinese movie making, which many analysts believe will continue to pump out poor quality fare as long as there is money to be made - irrespective of how many actually people go to see the film.
Clock changes: EU backs ending daylight saving time - BBC News
August 31, 2018.
Clock changes: EU backs ending daylight saving time
The EU Commission is proposing to end the practice of adjusting clocks by an hour in spring and autumn after a survey found most Europeans opposed it.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said millions "believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that's what will happen".
The Commission's proposal requires support from the 28 national governments and MEPs to become law.
In the EU clocks switch between winter and summer under daylight saving time.
A European Parliament resolution says it is "crucial to maintain a unified EU time regime".
However, the Commission has not yet drafted details of the proposed change.
In a consultation paper it said one option would be to let each member state decide whether to go for permanent summer or winter time. That would be "a sovereign decision of each member state", Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein explained on Friday.
He stressed that the proposal was "to no longer constrain member states into changing clocks twice per year".
The UK is one of the 28 nations, but is due to leave the European Union in March 2019. Any change would be unlikely to happen before then.
The Commission warns that uncoordinated time changes between member states would cause economic harm.
In the public consultation, 84% of 4.6 million respondents called for ending the spring and autumn clock change.
By far the biggest response was in Germany and Austria (3.79% and 2.94% of the national population respectively). The UK's response was lowest - 0.02% - but few Italians took part either (0.04%).
Some studies cited by the Commission point to adverse health impacts from the clock changes.
"Findings suggest that the effect on the human biorhythm may be more severe than previously thought," it says.
Clocks go forward by an hour on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the last Sunday in October.
Finland called for daylight saving to be abolished EU-wide, after a petition gathered more than 70,000 signatures from citizens calling for such a change.
The EU made the spring/autumn clock change the rule in all member states in 1996, based on the argument that it would reduce energy costs. But the Commission says the data on energy-saving is inconclusive.
There is also no reliable evidence that the clock changes reduce traffic accidents, the Commission says.
What are the EU's current time zones?
There are three standard time zones:
Three states apply GMT (the UK, Ireland and Portugal)
17 have Central European Time, which is GMT+1
Eight have Eastern European Time, which is GMT+2
The current seasonal clock changes are controversial partly because there is a big difference in daylight hours experienced by Scandinavia and by southern Europe.
Nordic countries have long, dark nights in winter and short nights in summer. The pattern in the south is more even across the seasons.
There are anomalies too. For example, neighbours Portugal and Spain are in different time zones, as are Sweden and Finland.
What is the situation in the UK?
The UK adopted Daylight Saving Time in 1916, along with many other nations involved in World War One, in order to conserve coal.
It followed years of pressure from William Willett, a great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
But the UK has had its own debate about time zones.
In 2011, the government proposed a three-year trial of moving to Central European Time, so the time would be GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.
The change would have meant lighter evenings but darker mornings, and one of the arguments was that it would reduce accidents. But it was abandoned after opposition from Scotland and northern England, where some areas would not have seen daylight until 10am under the proposal.
Clock changes: EU backs ending daylight saving time
The EU Commission is proposing to end the practice of adjusting clocks by an hour in spring and autumn after a survey found most Europeans opposed it.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said millions "believe that in future, summer time should be year-round, and that's what will happen".
The Commission's proposal requires support from the 28 national governments and MEPs to become law.
In the EU clocks switch between winter and summer under daylight saving time.
A European Parliament resolution says it is "crucial to maintain a unified EU time regime".
However, the Commission has not yet drafted details of the proposed change.
In a consultation paper it said one option would be to let each member state decide whether to go for permanent summer or winter time. That would be "a sovereign decision of each member state", Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein explained on Friday.
He stressed that the proposal was "to no longer constrain member states into changing clocks twice per year".
The UK is one of the 28 nations, but is due to leave the European Union in March 2019. Any change would be unlikely to happen before then.
The Commission warns that uncoordinated time changes between member states would cause economic harm.
In the public consultation, 84% of 4.6 million respondents called for ending the spring and autumn clock change.
By far the biggest response was in Germany and Austria (3.79% and 2.94% of the national population respectively). The UK's response was lowest - 0.02% - but few Italians took part either (0.04%).
Some studies cited by the Commission point to adverse health impacts from the clock changes.
"Findings suggest that the effect on the human biorhythm may be more severe than previously thought," it says.
Clocks go forward by an hour on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the last Sunday in October.
Finland called for daylight saving to be abolished EU-wide, after a petition gathered more than 70,000 signatures from citizens calling for such a change.
The EU made the spring/autumn clock change the rule in all member states in 1996, based on the argument that it would reduce energy costs. But the Commission says the data on energy-saving is inconclusive.
There is also no reliable evidence that the clock changes reduce traffic accidents, the Commission says.
What are the EU's current time zones?
There are three standard time zones:
Three states apply GMT (the UK, Ireland and Portugal)
17 have Central European Time, which is GMT+1
Eight have Eastern European Time, which is GMT+2
The current seasonal clock changes are controversial partly because there is a big difference in daylight hours experienced by Scandinavia and by southern Europe.
Nordic countries have long, dark nights in winter and short nights in summer. The pattern in the south is more even across the seasons.
There are anomalies too. For example, neighbours Portugal and Spain are in different time zones, as are Sweden and Finland.
What is the situation in the UK?
The UK adopted Daylight Saving Time in 1916, along with many other nations involved in World War One, in order to conserve coal.
It followed years of pressure from William Willett, a great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
But the UK has had its own debate about time zones.
In 2011, the government proposed a three-year trial of moving to Central European Time, so the time would be GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.
The change would have meant lighter evenings but darker mornings, and one of the arguments was that it would reduce accidents. But it was abandoned after opposition from Scotland and northern England, where some areas would not have seen daylight until 10am under the proposal.
Trump threatens to pull US out of World Trade Organization - BBC News
August 31, 2018.
Trump threatens to pull US out of World Trade Organization
Mr Trump has been embroiled in tit-for-tat trade battles on several fronts in recent months
President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming it treats his country unfairly.
"If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve disputes between countries.
Mr Trump says the body too often rules against the US, although he concedes it has won some recent judgments.
He claimed on Fox News earlier this year that the WTO was set up "to benefit everybody but us", adding: "We lose the lawsuits, almost all of the lawsuits in the WTO."
However, some analysis shows the US wins about 90% when it is the complainant and loses about the same percentage when it is complained against.
Mr Trump's warning about a possible US pull-out from the WTO highlights the conflict between his protectionist trade policies and the open trade system that the WTO oversees.
US-China trade row: What has happened so far?
Is Trump the WTO's biggest threat?
Is Trump right about trade?
Washington has recently blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO's Geneva-based dispute settlement body, which could potentially paralyse its ability to issue judgments.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has also accused the WTO of interfering with US sovereignty.
It comes as President Trump set a Friday deadline for Canada to sign a new agreement with the US and Mexico. He has threatened to tax the country's automotive sector or cut it out entirely.
What's Trump's issue with the WTO?
The US president has been sounding off about unfair trade since even before he became president.
Mr Trump said on Thursday that the 1994 agreement to establish the WTO "was the single worst trade deal ever made".
The US has been embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade battle on several fronts in recent months.
The one creating the most interest is with China, as the world's two largest economies wrangle for global influence.
Mr Trump has introduced tariffs on a number of goods imported into the US.
Early victims of Trump's trade war
What is a trade war and should I worry?
Six ways China could retaliate in a trade war
A third round of tariffs on $200bn (£154bn) of Chinese goods could come as soon as a public-comment period concludes next week, according to a Bloomberg report citing various sources.
Asked to confirm this during the Bloomberg interview, President Trump said that it was "not totally wrong".
China has responded to US tariffs by imposing retaliatory taxes on the same value of US products and has filed complaints against the tariffs at the WTO.
China's commerce ministry has said it "clearly suspects" the US of violating WTO rules.
An initial complaint at the WTO was filed by China in July after Mr Trump imposed his first round of tariffs.
Donald Trump speaks with the Mexican leader on the phone through an interpreter
The WTO is at the heart of the system of rules for international trade. It is the forum for sorting disputes between countries about breaches of global trade rules and for negotiating new trade liberalisation.
The EU, meanwhile, is trying to steer the US towards reforming the WTO rather than abandoning it.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, told Politico magazine that it would submit plans to overhaul the organisation in September. He said it would test whether the US was really interested in reform.
"This is certainly about calling [America's] bluff," he said.
What about other trade deals?
Mr Trump has not been a fan of multilateral trade agreements.
In a 2016 presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump described the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Mexico and Canada as "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere" and a "killer" of US jobs.
Once in office he said he wanted to renegotiate - not scrap - the accord, triggering a year of talks.
On Monday, Mr Trump announced that the US and Mexico had agreed to revamp Nafta, calling it a "really good deal" that was "much more fair" for both countries.
Canada is yet to agree to the new terms.
Clock is ticking for Canada in US trade negotiations
What is Nafta?
What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
On Thursday, Mr Lighthizer held talks in Washington with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland aimed at reaching a new deal.
Following four separate meetings, which continued late into the night, Ms Freeland told reporters that a deal could not be reached, adding that talks would resume on Friday.
Also during his election campaign Mr Trump railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade deal that was a linchpin of former President Barack Obama's Asia policy.
Mr Trump said the deal was a "potential disaster for our country".
One of his first acts as president was to withdraw the US from the TTP, although he has since said he might consider rejoining if the terms were "substantially better".
Trump threatens to pull US out of World Trade Organization
Mr Trump has been embroiled in tit-for-tat trade battles on several fronts in recent months
President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming it treats his country unfairly.
"If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve disputes between countries.
Mr Trump says the body too often rules against the US, although he concedes it has won some recent judgments.
He claimed on Fox News earlier this year that the WTO was set up "to benefit everybody but us", adding: "We lose the lawsuits, almost all of the lawsuits in the WTO."
However, some analysis shows the US wins about 90% when it is the complainant and loses about the same percentage when it is complained against.
Mr Trump's warning about a possible US pull-out from the WTO highlights the conflict between his protectionist trade policies and the open trade system that the WTO oversees.
US-China trade row: What has happened so far?
Is Trump the WTO's biggest threat?
Is Trump right about trade?
Washington has recently blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO's Geneva-based dispute settlement body, which could potentially paralyse its ability to issue judgments.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has also accused the WTO of interfering with US sovereignty.
It comes as President Trump set a Friday deadline for Canada to sign a new agreement with the US and Mexico. He has threatened to tax the country's automotive sector or cut it out entirely.
What's Trump's issue with the WTO?
The US president has been sounding off about unfair trade since even before he became president.
Mr Trump said on Thursday that the 1994 agreement to establish the WTO "was the single worst trade deal ever made".
The US has been embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade battle on several fronts in recent months.
The one creating the most interest is with China, as the world's two largest economies wrangle for global influence.
Mr Trump has introduced tariffs on a number of goods imported into the US.
Early victims of Trump's trade war
What is a trade war and should I worry?
Six ways China could retaliate in a trade war
A third round of tariffs on $200bn (£154bn) of Chinese goods could come as soon as a public-comment period concludes next week, according to a Bloomberg report citing various sources.
Asked to confirm this during the Bloomberg interview, President Trump said that it was "not totally wrong".
China has responded to US tariffs by imposing retaliatory taxes on the same value of US products and has filed complaints against the tariffs at the WTO.
China's commerce ministry has said it "clearly suspects" the US of violating WTO rules.
An initial complaint at the WTO was filed by China in July after Mr Trump imposed his first round of tariffs.
Donald Trump speaks with the Mexican leader on the phone through an interpreter
The WTO is at the heart of the system of rules for international trade. It is the forum for sorting disputes between countries about breaches of global trade rules and for negotiating new trade liberalisation.
The EU, meanwhile, is trying to steer the US towards reforming the WTO rather than abandoning it.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, told Politico magazine that it would submit plans to overhaul the organisation in September. He said it would test whether the US was really interested in reform.
"This is certainly about calling [America's] bluff," he said.
What about other trade deals?
Mr Trump has not been a fan of multilateral trade agreements.
In a 2016 presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump described the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Mexico and Canada as "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere" and a "killer" of US jobs.
Once in office he said he wanted to renegotiate - not scrap - the accord, triggering a year of talks.
On Monday, Mr Trump announced that the US and Mexico had agreed to revamp Nafta, calling it a "really good deal" that was "much more fair" for both countries.
Canada is yet to agree to the new terms.
Clock is ticking for Canada in US trade negotiations
What is Nafta?
What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
On Thursday, Mr Lighthizer held talks in Washington with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland aimed at reaching a new deal.
Following four separate meetings, which continued late into the night, Ms Freeland told reporters that a deal could not be reached, adding that talks would resume on Friday.
Also during his election campaign Mr Trump railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade deal that was a linchpin of former President Barack Obama's Asia policy.
Mr Trump said the deal was a "potential disaster for our country".
One of his first acts as president was to withdraw the US from the TTP, although he has since said he might consider rejoining if the terms were "substantially better".
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Panasonic to move Europe headquarters from UK to Amsterdam - BBC News
August 30, 2018.
Panasonic to move Europe headquarters from UK to Amsterdam
Panasonic will move its European headquarters from the UK to Amsterdam in October as Brexit approaches.
The aim is to avoid potential tax issues linked to the UK's decision to leave the EU, said Panasonic Europe's chief executive Laurent Abadie.
In the run-up to March 2019, a number of multinational firms have said they plan to move jobs out of the UK.
Several Japanese financial companies have said they intend to move their main EU bases away from London.
Panasonic's decision was driven by a fear that Japan could start considering the UK a tax haven if it cuts corporate tax rates to attract business, Mr Abadie told the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper.
If Panasonic ends up paying less tax in the UK, that could render it liable for a bigger tax bill in Japan.
Brexit: Key dates and potential hurdles
At-a-glance: the UK's four Brexit options
Mr Abadie told the Nikkei Asian Review that Panasonic had been considering the move for 15 months, because of Brexit-related concerns such as access to free flow of goods and people.
The newspaper said employees dealing with auditing and financial operations would move, but those dealing with investor relations would stay in the UK.
Up to 20 people could be affected out of a staff of 30.
A spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the registration of Panasonic's European headquarters would move in October.
However, the spokesperson said the firm could not comment on the numbers of people who would have to move to Amsterdam.
In 2016, the UK government pledged to cut corporation tax to encourage businesses to continue investing in the UK after the Brexit referendum.
Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, but with less than a year to go, the UK and the EU are struggling to reach consensus on the terms of the exit.
Japan is a major investor in the UK, where more than 800 Japanese companies employ more than 100,000 people.
However, financial firms including Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui and Daiwa have already said they will no longer maintain their EU headquarters in London.
Panasonic to move Europe headquarters from UK to Amsterdam
Panasonic will move its European headquarters from the UK to Amsterdam in October as Brexit approaches.
The aim is to avoid potential tax issues linked to the UK's decision to leave the EU, said Panasonic Europe's chief executive Laurent Abadie.
In the run-up to March 2019, a number of multinational firms have said they plan to move jobs out of the UK.
Several Japanese financial companies have said they intend to move their main EU bases away from London.
Panasonic's decision was driven by a fear that Japan could start considering the UK a tax haven if it cuts corporate tax rates to attract business, Mr Abadie told the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper.
If Panasonic ends up paying less tax in the UK, that could render it liable for a bigger tax bill in Japan.
Brexit: Key dates and potential hurdles
At-a-glance: the UK's four Brexit options
Mr Abadie told the Nikkei Asian Review that Panasonic had been considering the move for 15 months, because of Brexit-related concerns such as access to free flow of goods and people.
The newspaper said employees dealing with auditing and financial operations would move, but those dealing with investor relations would stay in the UK.
Up to 20 people could be affected out of a staff of 30.
A spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the registration of Panasonic's European headquarters would move in October.
However, the spokesperson said the firm could not comment on the numbers of people who would have to move to Amsterdam.
In 2016, the UK government pledged to cut corporation tax to encourage businesses to continue investing in the UK after the Brexit referendum.
Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, but with less than a year to go, the UK and the EU are struggling to reach consensus on the terms of the exit.
Japan is a major investor in the UK, where more than 800 Japanese companies employ more than 100,000 people.
However, financial firms including Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui and Daiwa have already said they will no longer maintain their EU headquarters in London.
Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Maneuvering Is Getting Even More Aggressive - Daily Intelligencer ( New York Magazine )
August 30, 2018.
Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Maneuvering Is Getting Even More Aggressive
By Gabriel Debenedetti
Warren hasn’t announced anything, of course, but it certainly looks like she’s setting up a presidential run.
Elizabeth Warren’s had a deceptively busy last few weeks. She dropped one longshot policy proposal that would try to remake corporate America, then another that aims to actually drain the Washington swamp. She put restrictions on her own fundraising practices and opened her financial books, and bid two staffers farewell as they shipped up to new jobs in New Hampshire.
Let’s play a game of connect the dots.
Alone, each dot can be read as an incremental, progressive political move. The overall picture, however, is yet more evidence that the Massachusetts senator is prepping for a 2020 presidential run – and moving significantly more aggressively than is widely recognized, by pundits and her potential opponents alike.
The late summer series of public-facing maneuvers comes with the 2020 race set to hit center stage in fewer than 70 days, as soon as the midterms pass. Warren’s fellow top-tier Democratic primary contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are both planning to make politically resonant Labor Day appearances — Biden in Pittsburgh and Sanders in Manchester, New Hampshire — and her fellow Massachusetts hopeful, former governor Deval Patrick, on Wednesday launched a PAC intended to help him back allied candidates around the country.
But the potential front-runner’s moves stand out largely because they break beyond the serious groundwork she’s already laid — from raising gobs of campaign cash and ordering up waves of self-research to strengthening her ties to party power brokers and working to minimize her vulnerability on the touchy issue of her disputed Native American ancestry — further muscling her ahead of the rest of the potential field in terms of political preparation. The effort has also opened Warren to months of extra scrutiny from Republicans eager to define her for American voters before a potential general election matchup against Donald Trump, who used his “Pocahontas” nickname for her yet again in passing during a speech in Ohio last week.
“I would put her in the category of a few candidates — people who are, without running, doing whatever they can to be running in practical terms,” said leading party strategist Dan Kanninen, a Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign veteran. “This last two weeks may put her at the front of that pack.”
The new push began in earnest two weeks back, when Warren announced new corporate accountability legislation — which would force large companies to consider stakeholders in top-level decisions, limit execs’ ability to sell their shares, and require the organizations to get shareholder and board approval for political spending — to some fanfare. One week later, she summoned the Washington media to the National Press Club for the unveiling of another bill, which she called “the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation proposed in Congress since Watergate,” proposing to ban members of Congress, the Cabinet, and the federal judiciary from owning or trading individual stocks, to ban foreign lobbying and lobbyist donations to campaigns, and to prohibit former members of Congress, ex-presidents and onetime agency heads from lobbying themselves.
Warren knows neither proposal is likely to become law anytime soon, but each could easily help form the backbone of an eventual nationwide platform, and introducing them to the party’s national conversation early effectively grants Warren ownership of the ideas, which other potential White House contenders may eventually embrace. Her timing could hardly have been luckier: just hours after she was done explaining her corruption legislation, Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations and tax fraud, implicating the president, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in his financial fraud trial, and Congressman Duncan Hunter was indicted for his own alleged improper use of campaign funds.
Yet it was a little-noticed passage of her reveal that may have presented the clearest signs that she’s stepping toward a run. Warren — who is up for re-election in November, but who is unlikely to face anything close to a real challenge — publicly said for the first time that she has now formally stopped taking not just corporate political action committee money — as other likely 2020 contenders and down-ballot candidates have done — but all PAC money, as well as funds from federal lobbyists. (This is a new policy for her.) Two days later, she pushed on, complying with one of her new proposals by publishing her tax returns — ten years’ worth — a move that provides a clear contrast with Trump, whose taxes remain shrouded in mystery, and also with Sanders, whose own tax returns were briefly a point of contention during 2016’s primary fight.
Warren’s recent moves haven’t been restricted to Washington. While the senator continues avoiding trips to the important presidential nominating states of New Hampshire and Iowa, turning down repeated invitations, according to local officials, two of her aides in recent weeks decamped to New Hampshire for new jobs with the state’s Democratic Party committee — one as its new communications director, and another as its political director. It’s a classic move for potential presidential hopefuls whose staffers are eager for facetime and connections in early-voting states. “If she decided to run in New Hampshire, it would be good to have access to people with New Hampshire experience,” explained Kathy Sullivan, a former chair of the state party. “It’s not an unusual thing for us to see people who may have been associated with candidates, in both parties, who come up to New Hampshire in the midterms” before a presidential race.
Warren has also recently stepped up her endorsements and fundraising for House and gubernatorial candidates across the country, including in some long-shot races where she has little obvious connection to the candidate: she raised eyebrows in Washington this summer for popping up at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee breakfast, and her list of endorsees — some of who could turn into powerful, and grateful, supporters next year — stretches into the dozens. Sometimes, she helps candidates far from the public eye. In July, for example, she headlined a D.C. fundraiser for New Mexico congressional candidate Deb Haaland, who is likely to become Capitol Hill’s first Native American congresswoman. But sometimes, Warren jumps into the center of the House news cycle: almost immediately after Hunter’s indictment this month, she started sending fundraising emails for his Democratic challenger.
The growing collection of dots are accumulating after months of preparation that’s already seen Warren actively work to build her political capabilities, strengthen her party connections in Washington and around the country, shore up her biggest weaknesses, and burnish her national profile.
Warren has yet to announce she’s running, of course, and she continues stumping in Massachusetts for her re-election bid with frequent town hall events. But add her recent flurry to her team’s previous work, and you unmistakably have the seeds of a national campaign that could spring together if Warren ultimately decides to say “go.”
And that’s been enough for Republican campaigners who’ve been working to solidify her as a phony in the public’s mind before she can introduce herself on her own terms.
National GOP leaders still point to their pre-2016 campaign work of poisoning Clinton’s image as a model for what they’re trying to do to Warren. That work has sped up in the last few weeks: Republican researchers have been combing through Warren’s newly released tax returns searching for new issues to which they didn’t previously have access in recent days.
“In her attempt to position herself, she’s brought herself to the forefront, and we’re happy to make the public aware of her record,” said Sarah Dolan of the GOP opposition research group America Rising, which has been tracking Warren for well over a year. “We know she’s running.”
Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Maneuvering Is Getting Even More Aggressive
By Gabriel Debenedetti
Warren hasn’t announced anything, of course, but it certainly looks like she’s setting up a presidential run.
Elizabeth Warren’s had a deceptively busy last few weeks. She dropped one longshot policy proposal that would try to remake corporate America, then another that aims to actually drain the Washington swamp. She put restrictions on her own fundraising practices and opened her financial books, and bid two staffers farewell as they shipped up to new jobs in New Hampshire.
Let’s play a game of connect the dots.
Alone, each dot can be read as an incremental, progressive political move. The overall picture, however, is yet more evidence that the Massachusetts senator is prepping for a 2020 presidential run – and moving significantly more aggressively than is widely recognized, by pundits and her potential opponents alike.
The late summer series of public-facing maneuvers comes with the 2020 race set to hit center stage in fewer than 70 days, as soon as the midterms pass. Warren’s fellow top-tier Democratic primary contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are both planning to make politically resonant Labor Day appearances — Biden in Pittsburgh and Sanders in Manchester, New Hampshire — and her fellow Massachusetts hopeful, former governor Deval Patrick, on Wednesday launched a PAC intended to help him back allied candidates around the country.
But the potential front-runner’s moves stand out largely because they break beyond the serious groundwork she’s already laid — from raising gobs of campaign cash and ordering up waves of self-research to strengthening her ties to party power brokers and working to minimize her vulnerability on the touchy issue of her disputed Native American ancestry — further muscling her ahead of the rest of the potential field in terms of political preparation. The effort has also opened Warren to months of extra scrutiny from Republicans eager to define her for American voters before a potential general election matchup against Donald Trump, who used his “Pocahontas” nickname for her yet again in passing during a speech in Ohio last week.
“I would put her in the category of a few candidates — people who are, without running, doing whatever they can to be running in practical terms,” said leading party strategist Dan Kanninen, a Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign veteran. “This last two weeks may put her at the front of that pack.”
The new push began in earnest two weeks back, when Warren announced new corporate accountability legislation — which would force large companies to consider stakeholders in top-level decisions, limit execs’ ability to sell their shares, and require the organizations to get shareholder and board approval for political spending — to some fanfare. One week later, she summoned the Washington media to the National Press Club for the unveiling of another bill, which she called “the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation proposed in Congress since Watergate,” proposing to ban members of Congress, the Cabinet, and the federal judiciary from owning or trading individual stocks, to ban foreign lobbying and lobbyist donations to campaigns, and to prohibit former members of Congress, ex-presidents and onetime agency heads from lobbying themselves.
Warren knows neither proposal is likely to become law anytime soon, but each could easily help form the backbone of an eventual nationwide platform, and introducing them to the party’s national conversation early effectively grants Warren ownership of the ideas, which other potential White House contenders may eventually embrace. Her timing could hardly have been luckier: just hours after she was done explaining her corruption legislation, Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations and tax fraud, implicating the president, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in his financial fraud trial, and Congressman Duncan Hunter was indicted for his own alleged improper use of campaign funds.
Yet it was a little-noticed passage of her reveal that may have presented the clearest signs that she’s stepping toward a run. Warren — who is up for re-election in November, but who is unlikely to face anything close to a real challenge — publicly said for the first time that she has now formally stopped taking not just corporate political action committee money — as other likely 2020 contenders and down-ballot candidates have done — but all PAC money, as well as funds from federal lobbyists. (This is a new policy for her.) Two days later, she pushed on, complying with one of her new proposals by publishing her tax returns — ten years’ worth — a move that provides a clear contrast with Trump, whose taxes remain shrouded in mystery, and also with Sanders, whose own tax returns were briefly a point of contention during 2016’s primary fight.
Warren’s recent moves haven’t been restricted to Washington. While the senator continues avoiding trips to the important presidential nominating states of New Hampshire and Iowa, turning down repeated invitations, according to local officials, two of her aides in recent weeks decamped to New Hampshire for new jobs with the state’s Democratic Party committee — one as its new communications director, and another as its political director. It’s a classic move for potential presidential hopefuls whose staffers are eager for facetime and connections in early-voting states. “If she decided to run in New Hampshire, it would be good to have access to people with New Hampshire experience,” explained Kathy Sullivan, a former chair of the state party. “It’s not an unusual thing for us to see people who may have been associated with candidates, in both parties, who come up to New Hampshire in the midterms” before a presidential race.
Warren has also recently stepped up her endorsements and fundraising for House and gubernatorial candidates across the country, including in some long-shot races where she has little obvious connection to the candidate: she raised eyebrows in Washington this summer for popping up at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee breakfast, and her list of endorsees — some of who could turn into powerful, and grateful, supporters next year — stretches into the dozens. Sometimes, she helps candidates far from the public eye. In July, for example, she headlined a D.C. fundraiser for New Mexico congressional candidate Deb Haaland, who is likely to become Capitol Hill’s first Native American congresswoman. But sometimes, Warren jumps into the center of the House news cycle: almost immediately after Hunter’s indictment this month, she started sending fundraising emails for his Democratic challenger.
The growing collection of dots are accumulating after months of preparation that’s already seen Warren actively work to build her political capabilities, strengthen her party connections in Washington and around the country, shore up her biggest weaknesses, and burnish her national profile.
Warren has yet to announce she’s running, of course, and she continues stumping in Massachusetts for her re-election bid with frequent town hall events. But add her recent flurry to her team’s previous work, and you unmistakably have the seeds of a national campaign that could spring together if Warren ultimately decides to say “go.”
And that’s been enough for Republican campaigners who’ve been working to solidify her as a phony in the public’s mind before she can introduce herself on her own terms.
National GOP leaders still point to their pre-2016 campaign work of poisoning Clinton’s image as a model for what they’re trying to do to Warren. That work has sped up in the last few weeks: Republican researchers have been combing through Warren’s newly released tax returns searching for new issues to which they didn’t previously have access in recent days.
“In her attempt to position herself, she’s brought herself to the forefront, and we’re happy to make the public aware of her record,” said Sarah Dolan of the GOP opposition research group America Rising, which has been tracking Warren for well over a year. “We know she’s running.”
After surprise primary victory, can Andrew Gillum win the Florida governor's race? - MSNBC News
After surprise primary victory, can Andrew Gillum win the Florida governor's race?
He claimed victory in the primary — but the question facing both parties now is whether a Florida candidate who favors legalizing marijuana and impeaching Trump can repeat the result in the general election.
by Alex Seitz-Wald / Aug.30.2018 / 6:30 PM ET
Image: Andrew Gillum holds son, Jackson
Gillum is looking to become the first Democrat elected governor in Florida in nearly a quarter of a century.Steve Cannon / AP
WASHINGTON — It took just 12 hours and one word for the nation’s newly minted marquee governor’s race to devolve into accusations of racism and socialism.
Andrew Gillum won a surprise victory in crowded Democratic primary in Florida Tuesday. But before he had a chance to celebrate, he was mixing it up with the President of the United States on Twitter and responding to what the Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman called “racist dog whistles” and he called a “full bullhorn” from his Republican opponent.
It’s just a taste of what it will take for him to win what is already the most expensive race governor's race in history and become Florida’s first black governor in what’s shaping up to be a bruising base-on-base contest.
Racism & Polarization: Florida governor's race becomes most consequential of 2018
AUG.30.201808:40
Republicans say Gillum has no idea what he’s in for, while allies say his usual coalition of people of color, white progressives and billionaires can carry the day — though they acknowledge it won't be easy.
“We now have a very tough contest before us,” said Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who is black and called Gillum’s win an “Obama moment.”
The Tallahassee mayor’s first day as his party’s nominee started with Trump blasting him on Twitter as a “failed Socialist Mayor.” Gillum responded with a taunt: “@ me next time.”
Andrew Gillum
✔
@AndrewGillum
What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership. If you agree, join us at http://AndrewGillum.com . Also, @ me next time, @realDonaldTrump.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream....a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!
10:13 PM - Aug 29, 2018
Then his opponent, Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., a Trump ally who won his own primary Tuesday, used a Fox News interview to warn Floridians not to “monkey this up” by electing Gillum. He also called Gillum “articulate.”
Republicans, like everyone else, expected to be running against Gwen Graham, the politically moderate daughter of former governor and senator Bob Graham. They were thrilled to instead get Gillum, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive who has been unable to shake associations to an FBI investigation in Tallahassee city government.
“Floridians do not want socialism, we do not want to abolish ICE, we do not want single payer [health care], we do not want Andrew Gillum and his radicalism,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News.
“So we are very excited about the results last night. Well done, Democrats,” McEnany added.
Even some Democrats have privately wondered if Gillum got lucky in the crowded primary and is in for a surprise in the general. His deep-pocketed opponents didn't attack him directly, and he won a narrow plurality.
But Gillum allies say he’ll beat the odds precisely because he’s willing to take bold stands, like offering support for legalizing marijuana, expanding Medicaid, and impeaching Trump.
“Andrew's whole life has been a test,” said Kevin Cate, a Gillum advisor who has known him for years. “Every odd and obstacle that could be placed in front of Mayor Gillum, from the time he was growing up in Richmond Heights in Gainesville, he's overcome.”
“He made history last night because he's authentic,” Cate added. “That's the same formula that we're going to use to win the general.”
Caputo: Dems taking a page out of GOP book for base politics in Florida
AUG.30.201802:45
Gillum was the fifth of seven children born to a construction worker and school bus driver who became the first person in his working-class family to graduate from college.
In high school, his potential political talent shone so bright that the Gainesville Sun profiled him as an “outstanding leader” and predicted a bright future. Now, he's hoping to become only the third black governor in history.
Both major party gubernatorial candidates are 39, but where Gillum’s resume tells a story of pluck, DeSantis’s is all polish.
Bernie Sanders-backed Democrat Gillum to take on Trump-endorsed Republican DeSantis in Florida gov race, NBC News projects
The congressman has degrees from Yale and Harvard, a Bronze Star for his service in the Navy as a legal adviser to the SEALs, and some local celebrity from playing for a team that went to the Little League World Series.
Trump, a known fan of Ivy League pedigrees, has touted DeSantis’s education three times on Twitter — including back in 2012, when DeSantis was making his first run for Congress. “Yale, Harvard Law,” Trump tweeted six years ago. “Very impressive.”
But Patrick Murphy, a Democrat who was elected to Congress the same year as DeSantis, said DeSantis can come off as “too cool for school.”
“He's one of the most arrogant members of Congress, and that's saying a lot,” said Murphy, who is no longer in Congress after losing his 2016 Senate bid. “The first time you meet him, I almost promise he will tell you where he went to college and what baseball team he played on within 10 minutes.”
In a state the size of Florida, however, just a fraction of voters will have a chance to actually meet either man. Many more will learn about them through TV ads.
Republicans are planning to hit Gillum hard and fast right out of the gate, hoping to define him early as a radical leftist with a mayoral record that saw rising crime rates and ethics issues.
To respond, Gillum will need money, and lots of it. He was was vastly outspent in the Democratic primary — $6.6 million, compared to a combined $96 million from the four other main candidates — but will have some help from liberal billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros, who have taken unusual interest in the race.
Florida congressman facing backlash for 'monkey this up' comment about black opponent
AUG.30.201801:55
Small online donations are sure to pour in, too. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who held a rally for Gillum, took the rare step of tapping his massive online fundraising list Wednesday to ask supports to donate to Gillum. “We could not have done it without you, senator,” Gillum said on Twitter.
A Democrat hasn’t been elected governor in Florida since Lawton Chiles in 1994, and Gillum's approach looks and sounds nothing like his, nor that of the party’s 2014 gubernatorial nominee, former Republican Charlie Crist.
Democrats say they are encouraged by the turnout in Tuesday’s primary, which was up up almost 60 percent over the 2014 midterm showing.
But the state remains divided stubbornly 50-50, which means Democrats need to both energize their base and win over swing voters, said Steve Schale, a Florida Democratic strategist who backed Graham.
“It's still a state that is very evenly balanced,” said Schale — who, like Graham, quickly got behind Gillum. “Democrats that think Andrew's not going to be able to connect with suburban white women, and typical swing voters aren't paying attention to what's happening around the country.”
Gillum overwhelmingly won the mayorship in Tallahassee, which is about 57 percent white, 35 percent black, and 7 percent Latino. Statewide, however, whites are even larger majority at 77 percent, and midterm electorates tend to be whiter than the overall population.
"We are ready to double down, and Andrew Gillum is the path to getting there," said Maria Urbina, the political director for the liberal group Indivisible.
Trump, Angered by Growing Legal Troubles, Finds Ways to Make Them Even Worse - Daily Intelligencer ( New York Magazine )
August 30, 2018.
Trump, Angered by Growing Legal Troubles, Finds Ways to Make Them Even Worse
By Margaret Hartmann@MargHartmann
If you can’t beat ‘em, why not fire Sessions? Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Faced with his former campaign manager’s conviction, his former fixer implicating him in a federal crime, and the prospect of investigations by a Democratic Congress, President Trump should probably to find some top-notch lawyers and avoid making any more legal missteps. But of course, that’s not Trump’s style. Instead, he’s responded by hastening the departure of White House Counsel Don McGahn, and laying the groundwork to finally fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions – two moves likely to intensify the brewing legal storm, and ensure he’s ill-equipped to fight it.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Trump’s advisers and allies have been warning him that he needs to fortify his legal team and strategy for responding to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They’ve even broached the topic of impeachment with Trump, though he calls it “the i-word” and sometimes dismisses the prospect angrily.
“We’ve talked a lot about impeachment at different times,” said Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. “It’s the only thing that hangs out there. They can’t [criminally] charge him.” Trump’s attorneys claim Mueller told them he’ll follow Justice Department protocols, which say the president can’t be indicted in office.
Though Giuliani added that he doesn’t know if Trump has thought about impeachment “in depth yet,” but McGahn and other aides reportedly invoked the possibility to keep the president from doing something rash, like firing Sessions or Mueller. (And when that strategy failed, McGahn just refused to carry out Trump’s order to dismiss the special counsel.)
McGahn, who has been working diligently to confirm more conservative federal judges, distanced himself from the Russia probe, and his relationship with Trump has grown increasingly strained, according to Politico. It was not helped by the controversy earlier this month over McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mueller, but supposedly that wasn’t the final straw for Trump. The New York Times reports that Trump “blindsided” McGahn with a tweet announcing his imminent departure on Wednesday in response to an Axios story that said he’d leave after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination:
Mr. Trump had grown tired of seeing reports that Mr. McGahn might leave, according to people familiar with his thinking, and decided to take away any wiggle room he might have. Allies of Mr. McGahn said on Wednesday that he believed the story was planted by his critics to force the president’s hand and hasten the timeline of announcing his departure.
McGahn’s exit exacerbates the shortage of competent lawyers advising Trump. The Post reports there are now about 25 lawyers serving in the Office of White House Counsel, down from 35 earlier in Trump’s presidency. Three of McGahn’s deputies have already departed for the private sector, and a fourth is leaving at the end of the week.
White House lawyer Emmet Flood, who represented President Clinton in his impeachment proceeding, is rumored to be the frontrunner to take over for McGahn, but that creates a key vacancy on the team handling Trump’s response to the Russia probe. The situation sparked talk among the president and his advisers of the need to bring on more attorneys experienced in white-collar defense and political scandals.
One name that’s come up is Abbe Lowell – though he’s already representing Trump’s son-in-law/adviser Jared Kushner. According to the Post, Trump has said he wishes he had competent attorneys, like those his advisers have been forced to hire:
“He wonders why he doesn’t have lawyers like that,” said one person who has discussed the matter with Trump.
Another adviser said Trump remarked this year, “I need a lawyer like Abbe.”
One explanation: Trump doesn’t seem to understand what he should be looking for in an attorney:
The president asked Rob Porter, then the staff secretary, several times last year if he would be willing to take over for Mr. McGahn, an idea supported by several of his aides and his children. But Mr. Porter told the president that he did not believe he was qualified for the role, felt it was the wrong fit for him and preferred focusing on policy, those briefed on the discussions said. He has since left the White House amid accusations of spousal abuse.
Another issue: many high-profile attorneys aren’t looking to get involved with a client known for ignoring his lawyers’ advice, then unceremoniously firing them via tweet.
Trump probably hasn’t helped matters by signaling in recent days that he’s gearing up to fire Sessions for refusing to help him thwart the Russia investigation. Politico reported that Trump spent the past ten days lobbying GOP senators on why they should support him if he fires Sessions. Some, like Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, signaled in recent days that they’re no longer opposed to confirming a new attorney general. Politico attributes this partly to Trump’s efforts, and partly to the senators’ annoyance over Sessions’s opposition to a criminal justice bill that they support.
Trump has also worn down what’s left of his legal team. Two Republicans close to the White House told Politico that they’re now convinced that Mueller has ample fuel to make a case for obstruction of justice, even Trump never goes through with firing Sessions.
“There’s the belief that if the president taking action with respect to Sessions is going to be an important part of the Mueller obstruction case, most of that case has already been made,” said one of the sources. “Things that the president has already done privately that have been reported, but also things that the president has done publicly that could be characterized as bullying or intimidating, all of that case is already there ready to be made, such that firing him is almost like an afterthought.”
If it’s too late for Trump’s lawyers to prevent him from committing impeachable offenses, why not have fun on the way out?
Trump, Angered by Growing Legal Troubles, Finds Ways to Make Them Even Worse
By Margaret Hartmann@MargHartmann
If you can’t beat ‘em, why not fire Sessions? Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Faced with his former campaign manager’s conviction, his former fixer implicating him in a federal crime, and the prospect of investigations by a Democratic Congress, President Trump should probably to find some top-notch lawyers and avoid making any more legal missteps. But of course, that’s not Trump’s style. Instead, he’s responded by hastening the departure of White House Counsel Don McGahn, and laying the groundwork to finally fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions – two moves likely to intensify the brewing legal storm, and ensure he’s ill-equipped to fight it.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Trump’s advisers and allies have been warning him that he needs to fortify his legal team and strategy for responding to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They’ve even broached the topic of impeachment with Trump, though he calls it “the i-word” and sometimes dismisses the prospect angrily.
“We’ve talked a lot about impeachment at different times,” said Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. “It’s the only thing that hangs out there. They can’t [criminally] charge him.” Trump’s attorneys claim Mueller told them he’ll follow Justice Department protocols, which say the president can’t be indicted in office.
Though Giuliani added that he doesn’t know if Trump has thought about impeachment “in depth yet,” but McGahn and other aides reportedly invoked the possibility to keep the president from doing something rash, like firing Sessions or Mueller. (And when that strategy failed, McGahn just refused to carry out Trump’s order to dismiss the special counsel.)
McGahn, who has been working diligently to confirm more conservative federal judges, distanced himself from the Russia probe, and his relationship with Trump has grown increasingly strained, according to Politico. It was not helped by the controversy earlier this month over McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mueller, but supposedly that wasn’t the final straw for Trump. The New York Times reports that Trump “blindsided” McGahn with a tweet announcing his imminent departure on Wednesday in response to an Axios story that said he’d leave after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination:
Mr. Trump had grown tired of seeing reports that Mr. McGahn might leave, according to people familiar with his thinking, and decided to take away any wiggle room he might have. Allies of Mr. McGahn said on Wednesday that he believed the story was planted by his critics to force the president’s hand and hasten the timeline of announcing his departure.
McGahn’s exit exacerbates the shortage of competent lawyers advising Trump. The Post reports there are now about 25 lawyers serving in the Office of White House Counsel, down from 35 earlier in Trump’s presidency. Three of McGahn’s deputies have already departed for the private sector, and a fourth is leaving at the end of the week.
White House lawyer Emmet Flood, who represented President Clinton in his impeachment proceeding, is rumored to be the frontrunner to take over for McGahn, but that creates a key vacancy on the team handling Trump’s response to the Russia probe. The situation sparked talk among the president and his advisers of the need to bring on more attorneys experienced in white-collar defense and political scandals.
One name that’s come up is Abbe Lowell – though he’s already representing Trump’s son-in-law/adviser Jared Kushner. According to the Post, Trump has said he wishes he had competent attorneys, like those his advisers have been forced to hire:
“He wonders why he doesn’t have lawyers like that,” said one person who has discussed the matter with Trump.
Another adviser said Trump remarked this year, “I need a lawyer like Abbe.”
One explanation: Trump doesn’t seem to understand what he should be looking for in an attorney:
The president asked Rob Porter, then the staff secretary, several times last year if he would be willing to take over for Mr. McGahn, an idea supported by several of his aides and his children. But Mr. Porter told the president that he did not believe he was qualified for the role, felt it was the wrong fit for him and preferred focusing on policy, those briefed on the discussions said. He has since left the White House amid accusations of spousal abuse.
Another issue: many high-profile attorneys aren’t looking to get involved with a client known for ignoring his lawyers’ advice, then unceremoniously firing them via tweet.
Trump probably hasn’t helped matters by signaling in recent days that he’s gearing up to fire Sessions for refusing to help him thwart the Russia investigation. Politico reported that Trump spent the past ten days lobbying GOP senators on why they should support him if he fires Sessions. Some, like Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, signaled in recent days that they’re no longer opposed to confirming a new attorney general. Politico attributes this partly to Trump’s efforts, and partly to the senators’ annoyance over Sessions’s opposition to a criminal justice bill that they support.
Trump has also worn down what’s left of his legal team. Two Republicans close to the White House told Politico that they’re now convinced that Mueller has ample fuel to make a case for obstruction of justice, even Trump never goes through with firing Sessions.
“There’s the belief that if the president taking action with respect to Sessions is going to be an important part of the Mueller obstruction case, most of that case has already been made,” said one of the sources. “Things that the president has already done privately that have been reported, but also things that the president has done publicly that could be characterized as bullying or intimidating, all of that case is already there ready to be made, such that firing him is almost like an afterthought.”
If it’s too late for Trump’s lawyers to prevent him from committing impeachable offenses, why not have fun on the way out?
Vodafone in $11bn Australian merger - BBC News
August 30, 2018.
Vodafone in $11bn Australian merger
Vodafone's Australian operations will become part of a new telecoms giant.
Under a A$15bn ($11bn; £8bn) merger Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom will create a mobile, fixed-line and broadband provider with the scale to rival Telstra and Optus.
Vodafone Australia, owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and Vodafone Group, will have a majority 50.1% stake.
TPG will hold the remainder of TPG Telecom Limited, which will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
"The combination of the two companies will create an organisation with the necessary scale, breadth and financial strength for the future," Vodafone Hutchison Australia's chief executive Inaki Berroeta said in a statement.
"The equal terms of the combination preserves the competitive strengths of the two businesses, meaning a sustainable long-term fixed/mobile competitor to Telstra and Optus."
Australia bans Huawei and ZTE 5G networks
Telstra to slash 8,000 jobs
Mr Berroeta will be the managing director and chief executive of the new merged group. David Teoh, who is currently the CEO and chairman of TPG, will become the new group's chairman.
TPG is one of Australia's largest internet service providers.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia is the country's third largest mobile operator which is jointly owned by Vodafone Group and Hutchinson Telecommunications Australia. It has a mobile customer base of approximately 6 million subscribers.
Shares in Hutchison Telecommunications Australia surged 44%. Stocks in TPG Telecom jumped 18%.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it will soon begin a public review of the proposed merger to identify any competition concerns.
Vodafone in $11bn Australian merger
Vodafone's Australian operations will become part of a new telecoms giant.
Under a A$15bn ($11bn; £8bn) merger Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom will create a mobile, fixed-line and broadband provider with the scale to rival Telstra and Optus.
Vodafone Australia, owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and Vodafone Group, will have a majority 50.1% stake.
TPG will hold the remainder of TPG Telecom Limited, which will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
"The combination of the two companies will create an organisation with the necessary scale, breadth and financial strength for the future," Vodafone Hutchison Australia's chief executive Inaki Berroeta said in a statement.
"The equal terms of the combination preserves the competitive strengths of the two businesses, meaning a sustainable long-term fixed/mobile competitor to Telstra and Optus."
Australia bans Huawei and ZTE 5G networks
Telstra to slash 8,000 jobs
Mr Berroeta will be the managing director and chief executive of the new merged group. David Teoh, who is currently the CEO and chairman of TPG, will become the new group's chairman.
TPG is one of Australia's largest internet service providers.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia is the country's third largest mobile operator which is jointly owned by Vodafone Group and Hutchinson Telecommunications Australia. It has a mobile customer base of approximately 6 million subscribers.
Shares in Hutchison Telecommunications Australia surged 44%. Stocks in TPG Telecom jumped 18%.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it will soon begin a public review of the proposed merger to identify any competition concerns.
Trump accuses China of stalling progress with North Korea - BBC News
August 30, 2018.
Trump accuses China of stalling progress with North Korea
'It's all China's fault' says Mr Trump
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at China for undermining its work with North Korea, as criticism over progress on denuclearisation mounts.
In a series of tweets he also said he saw no reason to resume the joint war games with South Korea that have angered North Korea.
Days ago his own defence secretary said military exercises might continue.
China has accused Mr Trump of "shifting blame" in his comments on its relations with North Korea.
A summit between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June ended with a pledge from the North to work towards "the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". Soon after Mr Trump announced there was "no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea".
But since then many observers say North Korea is not moving fast enough to dismantle its nuclear or rocket sites.
What are the US-South Korea war games?
Mr Trump's tweets appear to place the blame for these challenges squarely on China, but he also goes on to praise his personal ties with the leaders of both North Korea and China.
The confusing blend of criticism, praise and veiled threat comes as Washington faces mounting pressure to deliver results following those unprecedented talks.
Problem solved - according to Mr Trump after his June summit with Kim Jong-un
N Korea 'making missiles' despite US thaw
Tears and joy as Korean families reunite
Just days ago, Washington called off a trip to North Korea by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the president arguing that insufficient progress had been made in dismantling the North's nuclear programme.
Why take aim at China?
In his latest comments on Twitter, Mr Trump says North Korea was "under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government".
Beijing is Pyongyang's only significant ally and is thought to have significant influence over its decisions. Beijing is also Washington's most powerful long-term strategic rival in the region.
The US and China are locked in an increasingly tense trade battle and each side has imposed tariffs on one another's goods.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
STATEMENT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
President Donald J. Trump feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government. At the same time, we also know that China is providing North Korea with...
7:23 AM - Aug 30, 2018
Mr Trump has complained about the size of the US trade deficit with China and what Washington sees as other unfair trade practices.
Despite his strong words, Mr Trump's latest tweet concluded with some optimism, saying the trade issue could be resolved by himself and China's "great President Xi Jinping".
China has attacked Mr Trump's remarks as "irresponsible" and difficult to understand.
"To solve the problem, it should look at itself instead of shifting blame," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
China to respond 'resolutely' to US tariffs
US-China trade row: What has happened so far?
Why the US-China trade dispute has experts worried
What progress has been made on denuclearisation?
Since the June summit, North Korea has halted its missile tests, claimed to have dismantled a nuclear testing site and returned the remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
But Mr Trump has called out Pyongyang for what he said was insufficient progress on their broad agreement on denuclearisation.
A recent report by Vox suggests that Pyongyang is reluctant to proceed because Mr Trump failed to live up to his alleged promise to Mr Kim that he would sign an official declaration to end the Korean War.
After a UN report found that North Korea was continuing to work on its nuclear programme, the US urged the international community to maintain sanctions and economic pressure on Pyongyang.
North Korea carried out a series of long-range missile tests in 2017
In his latest series of tweets, Mr Trump accused Beijing of providing North Korea with "considerable aid", suggesting China was softening the blow of sanctions.
"This is not helpful!" Mr Trump said.
Will war games resume?
The joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul have long angered Pyongyang.
Following the summit in June, Mr Trump made what has widely been seen as a concession to Kim Jong-un and agreed to cancel the drills.
In his latest tweets, US president insisted his personal relationship with Mr Kim remained "a very good and warm one" and that there was no reason to restart the "war games" with the South.
But he added that if they did restart, the exercises would be "bigger than ever".
US and South Korean troops practice a beach landing
Mr Trump's tweets appear to contradict his defence secretary, who on Tuesday said the suspension of several joint exercises was a "good faith measure" and that "we have no plans to suspend any more."
Since the end of the Korean war, when Washington fought alongside Seoul against the North, the US has had troops stationed in South Korea.
About 29,000 US soldiers are based in the South, under a security agreement reached after the war ended in 1953.
Trump accuses China of stalling progress with North Korea
'It's all China's fault' says Mr Trump
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at China for undermining its work with North Korea, as criticism over progress on denuclearisation mounts.
In a series of tweets he also said he saw no reason to resume the joint war games with South Korea that have angered North Korea.
Days ago his own defence secretary said military exercises might continue.
China has accused Mr Trump of "shifting blame" in his comments on its relations with North Korea.
A summit between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June ended with a pledge from the North to work towards "the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". Soon after Mr Trump announced there was "no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea".
But since then many observers say North Korea is not moving fast enough to dismantle its nuclear or rocket sites.
What are the US-South Korea war games?
Mr Trump's tweets appear to place the blame for these challenges squarely on China, but he also goes on to praise his personal ties with the leaders of both North Korea and China.
The confusing blend of criticism, praise and veiled threat comes as Washington faces mounting pressure to deliver results following those unprecedented talks.
Problem solved - according to Mr Trump after his June summit with Kim Jong-un
N Korea 'making missiles' despite US thaw
Tears and joy as Korean families reunite
Just days ago, Washington called off a trip to North Korea by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the president arguing that insufficient progress had been made in dismantling the North's nuclear programme.
Why take aim at China?
In his latest comments on Twitter, Mr Trump says North Korea was "under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese government".
Beijing is Pyongyang's only significant ally and is thought to have significant influence over its decisions. Beijing is also Washington's most powerful long-term strategic rival in the region.
The US and China are locked in an increasingly tense trade battle and each side has imposed tariffs on one another's goods.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
STATEMENT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
President Donald J. Trump feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government. At the same time, we also know that China is providing North Korea with...
7:23 AM - Aug 30, 2018
Mr Trump has complained about the size of the US trade deficit with China and what Washington sees as other unfair trade practices.
Despite his strong words, Mr Trump's latest tweet concluded with some optimism, saying the trade issue could be resolved by himself and China's "great President Xi Jinping".
China has attacked Mr Trump's remarks as "irresponsible" and difficult to understand.
"To solve the problem, it should look at itself instead of shifting blame," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
China to respond 'resolutely' to US tariffs
US-China trade row: What has happened so far?
Why the US-China trade dispute has experts worried
What progress has been made on denuclearisation?
Since the June summit, North Korea has halted its missile tests, claimed to have dismantled a nuclear testing site and returned the remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
But Mr Trump has called out Pyongyang for what he said was insufficient progress on their broad agreement on denuclearisation.
A recent report by Vox suggests that Pyongyang is reluctant to proceed because Mr Trump failed to live up to his alleged promise to Mr Kim that he would sign an official declaration to end the Korean War.
After a UN report found that North Korea was continuing to work on its nuclear programme, the US urged the international community to maintain sanctions and economic pressure on Pyongyang.
North Korea carried out a series of long-range missile tests in 2017
In his latest series of tweets, Mr Trump accused Beijing of providing North Korea with "considerable aid", suggesting China was softening the blow of sanctions.
"This is not helpful!" Mr Trump said.
Will war games resume?
The joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul have long angered Pyongyang.
Following the summit in June, Mr Trump made what has widely been seen as a concession to Kim Jong-un and agreed to cancel the drills.
In his latest tweets, US president insisted his personal relationship with Mr Kim remained "a very good and warm one" and that there was no reason to restart the "war games" with the South.
But he added that if they did restart, the exercises would be "bigger than ever".
US and South Korean troops practice a beach landing
Mr Trump's tweets appear to contradict his defence secretary, who on Tuesday said the suspension of several joint exercises was a "good faith measure" and that "we have no plans to suspend any more."
Since the end of the Korean war, when Washington fought alongside Seoul against the North, the US has had troops stationed in South Korea.
About 29,000 US soldiers are based in the South, under a security agreement reached after the war ended in 1953.
Rohingya crisis: Myanmar leader Suu Kyi 'should have resigned' - BBC News
August 30, 2018.
Rohingya crisis: Myanmar leader Suu Kyi 'should have resigned'
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar
The outgoing UN human rights chief says Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi should have resigned over the military's violent campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority last year.
Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein told the BBC the Nobel Peace prize winner should have considered returning to house arrest rather than excusing the military.
A new UN report says Myanmar's military should be investigated for genocide.
Myanmar has rejected the report as one-sided.
The army of the Buddhist-majority nation - which has been accused of systematic ethnic cleansing - has previously cleared itself of wrongdoing.
The UN report, published on Monday, blamed Ms Suu Kyi, a long-term leader of the pro-democracy movement, for failing to prevent the violence.
Will we ever see Myanmar's military leaders in the dock?
What is genocide and why is the term so rarely used?
Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
"She was in a position to do something," Mr Hussein said in an interview with the BBC's Imogen Foulkes. "She could have stayed quiet - or even better, she could have resigned."
"There was no need for her to be the spokesperson of the Burmese military. She didn't have to say this was an iceberg of misinformation. These were fabrications," he said.
Ms Suu Ky, seen here in 2015, with Myanmar's commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing
"She could have said look, you know, I am prepared to be the nominal leader of the country but not under these conditions.
"Thank you very much, I will resign, I will go back into house arrest - I cannot be an adjunct accessory that others may think I am when it comes to these violations."
Between 1989 and 2010, Ms Suu Kyi, 73, spent about 16 years under house arrest by the military government.
On Wednesday, the Nobel committee said Ms Suu Kyi could not be stripped of the Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991.
What has Aung Sun Suu Kyi said?
While it is acknowledged that Ms Suu Kyi does not control the military, she has faced international pressure to condemn the army's alleged brutality.
For decades, she was hailed as the heroine of the human rights community - most notably for enduring house arrest for her pro-democracy activism during a brutal military dictatorship.
When communal violence broke out in 2012 and displaced more than 100,000 Rohingya people, Ms Suu Kyi sought to reassure the international community and pledged to "abide by our commitment to human rights and democratic values".
Aung San Suu Kyi: Then and now
What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis
How Suu Kyi sees the Rohingya crisis
"Muslims have been targeted but Buddhists have also been subjected to violence," she told the BBC at the time. "This fear is what is leading all the trouble."
She said that it was down to the government to bring an end to the violence, explaining: "This is the result of our suffering under a dictatorial regime."
What has Aung San Suu Kyi said about Rohingya Muslims?
In 2015, her National League for Democracy party won a landslide election victory and she became Myanmar's de-facto leader.
As the Rohingya crisis continued, Ms Suu Kyi's comments on the situation tended to play it down or suggest that people were exaggerating the severity of the violence.
The last time she spoke to the BBC in April 2017, she said: "I don't think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening."
Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
Could Aung San Suu Kyi face Rohingya genocide charges?
The Rohingya crisis: Why won't Aung San Suu Kyi act?
Since an outbreak of violence started in August 2017, Ms Suu Kyi has missed several opportunities to speak publicly about the issue, including the UN General Assembly in New York last September.
She later claimed the crisis was being distorted by a "huge iceberg of misinformation" - but then also said she felt "deeply" for the suffering of "all people" in the conflict.
Myanmar, she said, was "committed to a sustainable solution... for all communities in this state."
Harsh words and bitter criticism
Imogen Foulkes, BBC Geneva correspondent
Mr Zeid has been an outspoken critic of Ms Suu Kyi
Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein is known for his bluntness and his comments on Aung San Suu Kyi were no exception.
He bitterly criticised her attempts to excuse Myanmar's military. This week, UN investigators published evidence linking senior commanders to act of genocide.
His harsh words are another indication that Aung San Suu Kyi may now go down in history not as a Nobel Peace prize winner and pro-democracy leader, but as a woman who failed to act in the face of unspeakable human rights violations.
What is the Rohingya crisis?
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and considered illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh despite calling the Rakhine state home for generations.
Rohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
The military launched a crackdown in Rakhine last year after Rohingya militants carried out deadly attacks on police posts.
Who are the Rohingya Muslims?
What next for Myanmar after damning report?
Thousands of people have died and more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017.
There have also been widespread allegations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, including arbitrary killing, rape and burning of land over many years.
Rohingya crisis: Myanmar leader Suu Kyi 'should have resigned'
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar
The outgoing UN human rights chief says Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi should have resigned over the military's violent campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority last year.
Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein told the BBC the Nobel Peace prize winner should have considered returning to house arrest rather than excusing the military.
A new UN report says Myanmar's military should be investigated for genocide.
Myanmar has rejected the report as one-sided.
The army of the Buddhist-majority nation - which has been accused of systematic ethnic cleansing - has previously cleared itself of wrongdoing.
The UN report, published on Monday, blamed Ms Suu Kyi, a long-term leader of the pro-democracy movement, for failing to prevent the violence.
Will we ever see Myanmar's military leaders in the dock?
What is genocide and why is the term so rarely used?
Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
"She was in a position to do something," Mr Hussein said in an interview with the BBC's Imogen Foulkes. "She could have stayed quiet - or even better, she could have resigned."
"There was no need for her to be the spokesperson of the Burmese military. She didn't have to say this was an iceberg of misinformation. These were fabrications," he said.
Ms Suu Ky, seen here in 2015, with Myanmar's commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing
"She could have said look, you know, I am prepared to be the nominal leader of the country but not under these conditions.
"Thank you very much, I will resign, I will go back into house arrest - I cannot be an adjunct accessory that others may think I am when it comes to these violations."
Between 1989 and 2010, Ms Suu Kyi, 73, spent about 16 years under house arrest by the military government.
On Wednesday, the Nobel committee said Ms Suu Kyi could not be stripped of the Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991.
What has Aung Sun Suu Kyi said?
While it is acknowledged that Ms Suu Kyi does not control the military, she has faced international pressure to condemn the army's alleged brutality.
For decades, she was hailed as the heroine of the human rights community - most notably for enduring house arrest for her pro-democracy activism during a brutal military dictatorship.
When communal violence broke out in 2012 and displaced more than 100,000 Rohingya people, Ms Suu Kyi sought to reassure the international community and pledged to "abide by our commitment to human rights and democratic values".
Aung San Suu Kyi: Then and now
What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis
How Suu Kyi sees the Rohingya crisis
"Muslims have been targeted but Buddhists have also been subjected to violence," she told the BBC at the time. "This fear is what is leading all the trouble."
She said that it was down to the government to bring an end to the violence, explaining: "This is the result of our suffering under a dictatorial regime."
What has Aung San Suu Kyi said about Rohingya Muslims?
In 2015, her National League for Democracy party won a landslide election victory and she became Myanmar's de-facto leader.
As the Rohingya crisis continued, Ms Suu Kyi's comments on the situation tended to play it down or suggest that people were exaggerating the severity of the violence.
The last time she spoke to the BBC in April 2017, she said: "I don't think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening."
Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
Could Aung San Suu Kyi face Rohingya genocide charges?
The Rohingya crisis: Why won't Aung San Suu Kyi act?
Since an outbreak of violence started in August 2017, Ms Suu Kyi has missed several opportunities to speak publicly about the issue, including the UN General Assembly in New York last September.
She later claimed the crisis was being distorted by a "huge iceberg of misinformation" - but then also said she felt "deeply" for the suffering of "all people" in the conflict.
Myanmar, she said, was "committed to a sustainable solution... for all communities in this state."
Harsh words and bitter criticism
Imogen Foulkes, BBC Geneva correspondent
Mr Zeid has been an outspoken critic of Ms Suu Kyi
Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein is known for his bluntness and his comments on Aung San Suu Kyi were no exception.
He bitterly criticised her attempts to excuse Myanmar's military. This week, UN investigators published evidence linking senior commanders to act of genocide.
His harsh words are another indication that Aung San Suu Kyi may now go down in history not as a Nobel Peace prize winner and pro-democracy leader, but as a woman who failed to act in the face of unspeakable human rights violations.
What is the Rohingya crisis?
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and considered illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh despite calling the Rakhine state home for generations.
Rohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
The military launched a crackdown in Rakhine last year after Rohingya militants carried out deadly attacks on police posts.
Who are the Rohingya Muslims?
What next for Myanmar after damning report?
Thousands of people have died and more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017.
There have also been widespread allegations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, including arbitrary killing, rape and burning of land over many years.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Julia Banks: Exiting Australia MP decries 'bullying' of women - BBC News
August 29, 2018.
Julia Banks: Exiting Australia MP decries 'bullying' of women
MP Julia Banks (L) was a supporter of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
An Australian government MP has revealed she will not contest the next election, condemning the parliament's "bullying and intimidation" of women.
Julia Banks branded a party coup that ousted Malcolm Turnbull as PM last week as "the final straw" in her decision.
In a withering statement, Ms Banks took aim at the "scourge of cultural and gender bias" in politics and society.
In recent years, Australian female MPs have accused male counterparts of "misogyny" and "slut-shaming".
Amid wide-ranging and chaotic infighting last week, the government faced an allegation that male party figures had "stood over" female MPs in a bid to secure enough signatures to topple Mr Turnbull. Others denied the assertion.
Earlier this year, the government launched a national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment.
Who did Ms Banks criticise?
The Liberal Party MP, who holds a marginal seat in Melbourne, did not make reference to specific incidents.
However, she said in a statement: "I will always call out bad behaviour and will not tolerate any form of bullying or intimidation. I have experienced this both from within my own party and the Labor party."
Turnbull 'felled by revolts and revenge'
Six moments that defined Turnbull as PM
Who is Scott Morrison?
"In anticipating my critics saying I'm 'playing the gender card' - I say this. Women have suffered in silence for too long and in this last twelve months the world has seen many courageous women speak out," she added.
A supporter of Mr Turnbull and Julie Bishop - who was replaced as party deputy last week - Ms Banks also made a more general criticism about the political turmoil, rebuking unnamed figures with "mean-spirited grudges intent on settling their personal scores".
She said she would support new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and party deputy Josh Frydenberg.
How have others responded?
Mr Morrison said he had "no truck with bullying or intimidation in whatever form it is".
"I have laid down the law to my ministry and to the parliamentary secretary ranks of my government," he said on Wednesday.
Media captionMalcolm Turnbull: How the party turned on Australia's PM
Minister for Women Kelly O'Dwyer, who called herself a friend of Ms Banks, said workplace bullying "whether on the shopfloor, or in our nation's Parliament, [was] totally unacceptable".
"I deeply regret the decision that Julia has made today... and the circumstances that have led to her decision to leave politics".
What has been controversial previously?
Under Tony Abbott's leadership in 2013, the centre-right government was criticised for having just one woman in a 19-member cabinet - although it has since added more.
Allegations of gender-based bullying have also hit Labor: one MP, Emma Husar, asserted on Wednesday that her career had been ruined by malicious "slut-shaming".
In recent times, Australian politics has also heard:
Julia Gillard, as prime minister in 2012, accuse Mr Abbott of "misogyny" in a parliamentary speech that went viral;
Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator, say she had been "slut-shamed" by a male political opponent;
Reports that Ms O'Dwyer was asked to consider expressing milk to avoid missing parliamentary duties in 2015, prompting a backlash.
Julia Banks: Exiting Australia MP decries 'bullying' of women
MP Julia Banks (L) was a supporter of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
An Australian government MP has revealed she will not contest the next election, condemning the parliament's "bullying and intimidation" of women.
Julia Banks branded a party coup that ousted Malcolm Turnbull as PM last week as "the final straw" in her decision.
In a withering statement, Ms Banks took aim at the "scourge of cultural and gender bias" in politics and society.
In recent years, Australian female MPs have accused male counterparts of "misogyny" and "slut-shaming".
Amid wide-ranging and chaotic infighting last week, the government faced an allegation that male party figures had "stood over" female MPs in a bid to secure enough signatures to topple Mr Turnbull. Others denied the assertion.
Earlier this year, the government launched a national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment.
Who did Ms Banks criticise?
The Liberal Party MP, who holds a marginal seat in Melbourne, did not make reference to specific incidents.
However, she said in a statement: "I will always call out bad behaviour and will not tolerate any form of bullying or intimidation. I have experienced this both from within my own party and the Labor party."
Turnbull 'felled by revolts and revenge'
Six moments that defined Turnbull as PM
Who is Scott Morrison?
"In anticipating my critics saying I'm 'playing the gender card' - I say this. Women have suffered in silence for too long and in this last twelve months the world has seen many courageous women speak out," she added.
A supporter of Mr Turnbull and Julie Bishop - who was replaced as party deputy last week - Ms Banks also made a more general criticism about the political turmoil, rebuking unnamed figures with "mean-spirited grudges intent on settling their personal scores".
She said she would support new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and party deputy Josh Frydenberg.
How have others responded?
Mr Morrison said he had "no truck with bullying or intimidation in whatever form it is".
"I have laid down the law to my ministry and to the parliamentary secretary ranks of my government," he said on Wednesday.
Media captionMalcolm Turnbull: How the party turned on Australia's PM
Minister for Women Kelly O'Dwyer, who called herself a friend of Ms Banks, said workplace bullying "whether on the shopfloor, or in our nation's Parliament, [was] totally unacceptable".
"I deeply regret the decision that Julia has made today... and the circumstances that have led to her decision to leave politics".
What has been controversial previously?
Under Tony Abbott's leadership in 2013, the centre-right government was criticised for having just one woman in a 19-member cabinet - although it has since added more.
Allegations of gender-based bullying have also hit Labor: one MP, Emma Husar, asserted on Wednesday that her career had been ruined by malicious "slut-shaming".
In recent times, Australian politics has also heard:
Julia Gillard, as prime minister in 2012, accuse Mr Abbott of "misogyny" in a parliamentary speech that went viral;
Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator, say she had been "slut-shamed" by a male political opponent;
Reports that Ms O'Dwyer was asked to consider expressing milk to avoid missing parliamentary duties in 2015, prompting a backlash.
Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - (89) - The Australian Liberal Party leadership spill debacle
Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - (89) - The Australian Liberal Party leadership spill debacle
Julie Bishop is probably the most able member of the Malcolm Turnbull cabinet. She had been cruelly betrayed. Shame on the right wing Liberal insurgents ( dirty politicians like Tony Abbott and Mike Corman and Michkalia Cash ) who worked on their dark agenda which will push back Australia’s progress in democracy and multiculturalism. Julie Bishop’s exit from the cabinet is a real loss to Australian voters. This debacle has also revealed Australia’s macho or male dominant culture which is so out of day and out of place in the modern world. Had she been a man she would have been voted as the Liberal leader and the new prime minister as she was the most preferred PM by popular poll among the 3 candidates prior to the Liberal party spill that brought Scott Morrison to the office of the 30th Australian prime minister.
An Australian government MP Julia Banks has revealed she will not contest the next election, condemning the parliament's "bullying and intimidation" of women.
Who did Ms Banks criticise?
The Liberal Party MP, who holds a marginal seat in Melbourne, did not make reference to specific incidents.
However, she said in a statement: "I will always call out bad behaviour and will not tolerate any form of bullying or intimidation. I have experienced this both from within my own party and the Labor party."
"In anticipating my critics saying I'm 'playing the gender card' - I say this. Women have suffered in silence for too long and in this last twelve months the world has seen many courageous women speak out," she added.
A supporter of Mr Turnbull and Julie Bishop - who was replaced as party deputy last week - Ms Banks also made a more general criticism about the political turmoil, rebuking unnamed figures with "mean-spirited grudges intent on settling their personal scores".
She said she would support new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and party deputy Josh Frydenberg.
Important links for fact finding :-
(1) Australians react with horror and humour amidst political chaos
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45278859
(2) Malcolm Turnbull: How the party turned on Australia's PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-45292632/malcolm-turnbull-how-the-party-turned-on-australia-s-pm
(3)Malcolm Turnbull: The 'refreshing' PM felled by revolts and revenge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45292458
(4) Scott Morrison: Australia's conservative pragmatist
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45292331
(5) Malcolm Turnbull: Six moments that defined Australia's ex-PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45267126
(6) Australia: A history of political coups
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-45293252/australia-a-history-of-political-coups
(7) Four reasons why Australian politics is so crazy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45295667
(8) Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted
Julie Bishop is probably the most able member of the Malcolm Turnbull cabinet. She had been cruelly betrayed. Shame on the right wing Liberal insurgents ( dirty politicians like Tony Abbott and Mike Corman and Michkalia Cash ) who worked on their dark agenda which will push back Australia’s progress in democracy and multiculturalism. Julie Bishop’s exit from the cabinet is a real loss to Australian voters. This debacle has also revealed Australia’s macho or male dominant culture which is so out of day and out of place in the modern world. Had she been a man she would have been voted as the Liberal leader and the new prime minister as she was the most preferred PM by popular poll among the 3 candidates prior to the Liberal party spill that brought Scott Morrison to the office of the 30th Australian prime minister.
An Australian government MP Julia Banks has revealed she will not contest the next election, condemning the parliament's "bullying and intimidation" of women.
Who did Ms Banks criticise?
The Liberal Party MP, who holds a marginal seat in Melbourne, did not make reference to specific incidents.
However, she said in a statement: "I will always call out bad behaviour and will not tolerate any form of bullying or intimidation. I have experienced this both from within my own party and the Labor party."
"In anticipating my critics saying I'm 'playing the gender card' - I say this. Women have suffered in silence for too long and in this last twelve months the world has seen many courageous women speak out," she added.
A supporter of Mr Turnbull and Julie Bishop - who was replaced as party deputy last week - Ms Banks also made a more general criticism about the political turmoil, rebuking unnamed figures with "mean-spirited grudges intent on settling their personal scores".
She said she would support new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and party deputy Josh Frydenberg.
Important links for fact finding :-
(1) Australians react with horror and humour amidst political chaos
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45278859
(2) Malcolm Turnbull: How the party turned on Australia's PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-45292632/malcolm-turnbull-how-the-party-turned-on-australia-s-pm
(3)Malcolm Turnbull: The 'refreshing' PM felled by revolts and revenge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45292458
(4) Scott Morrison: Australia's conservative pragmatist
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45292331
(5) Malcolm Turnbull: Six moments that defined Australia's ex-PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45267126
(6) Australia: A history of political coups
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-45293252/australia-a-history-of-political-coups
(7) Four reasons why Australian politics is so crazy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45295667
(8) Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45292637
(9) Julia Banks: Exiting Australia MP decries 'bullying' of women
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45339046
(10) Australia: Coup capital of the democratic world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-34249214
(10) Australia: Coup capital of the democratic world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-34249214
August 29, 2018.
Elon Musk Revives 'Pedo' Tweets Amid Concerns About His Erratic Social Media Behavior
By GRACE DOBUSH
Elon Musk, it seems, just can’t help himself.
Even amid intense scrutiny of the Tesla CEO’s erratic Twitter behavior, Musk sent several impulsive missives on the social media platform on Tuesday.
It started when Musk replied to a tweet linking to a Forbes article called “A Female Founder’s Take on the Tears of Elon Musk,” denying that he cried during an interview with the New York Times:
Tijen Onaran
✔
@TijenOnaran
· Aug 28, 2018
„Female founders must constantly consider how they are perceived in both business and life, which creates a tension that doesn’t allow us to be fully vulnerable or transparent.“ #mymorningquote Must-read & great piece on @elonmusk‘s tears https://www.forbes.com/sites/amynelson1/2018/08/21/a-female-founders-take-on-the-tears-of-elon-musk/ …
A Female Founder's Take On The Tears Of Elon Musk
In the wake of Elon Musk's interview with The New York Times, questions have been raised about how female founders would perceived if they acted the same way. Women are faced with a double standard...
forbes.com
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears.
1:11 AM - Aug 29, 2018
A spokesperson for the Times told CNN that the paper stands by its description of the phone interview. “Mr. Musk’s emotion was audible. It is not true that his voice only cracked once,” the spokesperson said.
Then Drew Olanoff, a former TechCrunch writer, piped in to ask about the time Musk accused British diver Vern Unsworth, who helped rescue a Thai soccer team from a cave, of being a pedophile. After Musk’s initial “pedo” Tweet, Tesla’s share price dropped 4%:
drew olanoff
✔
@yoda
· 18h
Replying to @yoda and 3 others
one other thing, elon. your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time when you called someone a pedo.
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda …
2:41 AM - Aug 29, 2018
In his response to Olanoff on Tuesday, Musk seemed to imply that if the “pedo” accusation were really false, the cave diver would have sued him.
Given recent events, you’d think Musk would lay off the tweet button.
Just two weeks ago, Musk’s tweet about possibly taking Tesla private briefly rallied investors and got the Securities and Exchange Commission’s attention. Some shareholders have sued. He’s blamed exhaustion for his unpredictable social media behavior, telling the New York Times he hasn’t taken a full week off work since 2001.
Last week, Arianna Huffington told Musk, who claims to work 120 hours a week, he should take better care of himself, to which he replied via Twitter at 2:30 a.m. saying change was not an option:
Arianna Huffington
✔
@ariannahuff
· Aug 18, 2018
Dear Elon, please change the way you work to be more in line with the science around how humans are most effective: You need it, Tesla needs it and the world needs it. http://ow.ly/XwpI30ls8w7
An Open Letter to Elon Musk
You’re demonstrating a wildly outdated, anti-scientific and horribly inefficient way of using human energy.
thriveglobal.com
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
Ford & Tesla are the only 2 American car companies to avoid bankruptcy. I just got home from the factory. You think this is an option. It is not.
7:32 PM - Aug 19, 2018
Musk’s tweeting is becoming a liability for Tesla, which now has $11.2 billion in short positions according to S3 Partners. “I’ve never seen a share price more tethered to a CEO, and I’ve never seen a CEO who is more untethered from reality,” a Tesla investor told Vanity Fair earlier this year. “Elon Musk is clearly more of a genius than Steve Jobs ever was, but Steve was more of a pro than Elon Musk has ever been.”
Elon Musk Revives 'Pedo' Tweets Amid Concerns About His Erratic Social Media Behavior
By GRACE DOBUSH
Elon Musk, it seems, just can’t help himself.
Even amid intense scrutiny of the Tesla CEO’s erratic Twitter behavior, Musk sent several impulsive missives on the social media platform on Tuesday.
It started when Musk replied to a tweet linking to a Forbes article called “A Female Founder’s Take on the Tears of Elon Musk,” denying that he cried during an interview with the New York Times:
Tijen Onaran
✔
@TijenOnaran
· Aug 28, 2018
„Female founders must constantly consider how they are perceived in both business and life, which creates a tension that doesn’t allow us to be fully vulnerable or transparent.“ #mymorningquote Must-read & great piece on @elonmusk‘s tears https://www.forbes.com/sites/amynelson1/2018/08/21/a-female-founders-take-on-the-tears-of-elon-musk/ …
A Female Founder's Take On The Tears Of Elon Musk
In the wake of Elon Musk's interview with The New York Times, questions have been raised about how female founders would perceived if they acted the same way. Women are faced with a double standard...
forbes.com
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears.
1:11 AM - Aug 29, 2018
A spokesperson for the Times told CNN that the paper stands by its description of the phone interview. “Mr. Musk’s emotion was audible. It is not true that his voice only cracked once,” the spokesperson said.
Then Drew Olanoff, a former TechCrunch writer, piped in to ask about the time Musk accused British diver Vern Unsworth, who helped rescue a Thai soccer team from a cave, of being a pedophile. After Musk’s initial “pedo” Tweet, Tesla’s share price dropped 4%:
drew olanoff
✔
@yoda
· 18h
Replying to @yoda and 3 others
one other thing, elon. your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time when you called someone a pedo.
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda …
2:41 AM - Aug 29, 2018
In his response to Olanoff on Tuesday, Musk seemed to imply that if the “pedo” accusation were really false, the cave diver would have sued him.
Given recent events, you’d think Musk would lay off the tweet button.
Just two weeks ago, Musk’s tweet about possibly taking Tesla private briefly rallied investors and got the Securities and Exchange Commission’s attention. Some shareholders have sued. He’s blamed exhaustion for his unpredictable social media behavior, telling the New York Times he hasn’t taken a full week off work since 2001.
Last week, Arianna Huffington told Musk, who claims to work 120 hours a week, he should take better care of himself, to which he replied via Twitter at 2:30 a.m. saying change was not an option:
Arianna Huffington
✔
@ariannahuff
· Aug 18, 2018
Dear Elon, please change the way you work to be more in line with the science around how humans are most effective: You need it, Tesla needs it and the world needs it. http://ow.ly/XwpI30ls8w7
An Open Letter to Elon Musk
You’re demonstrating a wildly outdated, anti-scientific and horribly inefficient way of using human energy.
thriveglobal.com
Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
Ford & Tesla are the only 2 American car companies to avoid bankruptcy. I just got home from the factory. You think this is an option. It is not.
7:32 PM - Aug 19, 2018
Musk’s tweeting is becoming a liability for Tesla, which now has $11.2 billion in short positions according to S3 Partners. “I’ve never seen a share price more tethered to a CEO, and I’ve never seen a CEO who is more untethered from reality,” a Tesla investor told Vanity Fair earlier this year. “Elon Musk is clearly more of a genius than Steve Jobs ever was, but Steve was more of a pro than Elon Musk has ever been.”
Putin softens pension reform plans after protests - Financial Times
August 29, 2018.
Putin softens pension reform plans after protests
Changes had initially been announced during World Cup
President Putin addresses the nation on controversial pension reform © Reuters
Kathrin Hille in Moscow
Russian president Vladimir Putin has stepped in to soften tough pension reform plans which triggered widespread protests and undermined his popularity.
A draft bill providing for a steep rise in the pension age would be amended to make it more socially acceptable before its planned parliamentary approval in October, Mr Putin said in a televised address on Wednesday.
“The law proposes that the pension age for women be raised by 8 years while the pension age for men be raised by 5 years. That’s of course not going to work. That’s not right,” Mr Putin said. He said the pension age for women should be raised from the current 55 to 60 years, instead of 63 years. The age for men would still be lifted by five years, to 65.
Russia’s pension protests are a risk for the Kremlin
Mr Putin also said that government guarantees for annual increases would be added to the bill, which would raise pension levels by more than 40 per cent by the end of his current presidential term in 2024. He ordered a smattering of social benefits to soften the blow of the planned reforms.
Mr Putin’s move comes after his support rates and public trust in him personally suffered a sharp drop in the wake of the government’s policy initiative in June.
The Russian president defended the decision to raise the pension age in principle, warning that the country’s shrinking population did not allow for further delays. But he said that beyond the objective economic necessities, the government had to take people’s feelings and fears into account.
Didi blames 'ignorance and pride' for carpool murder - BBC News
Didi blames 'ignorance and pride' for carpool murder
28 August 2018
This is the latest instance of violence against Didi passengers
Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing has issued a public apology, blaming "ignorance and pride" for safety lapses that led to the rape and murder of a female passenger.
Executives said they would stop using growth to measure the firm's success and prioritise safety instead.
The move follows Didi's decision to suspend its carpool service, Hitch, amid outrage over the incident.
It was the second killing of a Hitch passenger in three months.
On Tuesday, the company apologised to the family of the victim and said the incident had prompted a reckoning within the firm.
"Our ignorance and pride led to irreversible pain and loss," Didi founder Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu said in an emailed statement.
"We see clearly this is because our vanity overtook our original belief. We raced non-stop, riding on the force of breathless expansion and capital, through these few years; but this has no meaning in such a tragic loss of life."
On Saturday, a 27-year-old driver was arrested and later confessed to the murder of the 20-year-old passenger.
While the driver did not have a criminal record, a previous passenger had filed a complaint against him, according to Didi.
'Try our utmost'
Since the incident, China's transport ministry has pressed Didi for changes, such as better driver vetting and education.
Local regulators have also reportedly met with the company.
On Tuesday, Didi said it would create a system for passengers to call police and improve safety features, such as a function that allows riders to share itineraries.
It also said it would re-evaluate the business model for Hitch.
"We might not be able to eradicate 100% the ill deeds carried out by criminals who might seek to abuse this platform, but we will try our upmost to protect passengers and drivers and continue to drive down crime rate in this industry," the statement said.
Didi Chuxing is the clear market leader in China
Founded in 2012, Didi had grown to handle about 25 million rides a day by the start of 2018, when it claimed more than 450 million users and about 21 million drivers.
The firm, which is backed by major investors such as Softbank, has also been pushing to enter new markets, including Mexico and Japan.
London taxi and private hire cab sex attacks 'at 14-year high'
Uber changes US sexual assault policies
It is not the only ride-hailing service to face a backlash over its safety controls.
Uber, which is also backed by Softbank and has a stake in Didi's China business, has grappled with similar issues in the US and India, prompting calls for tighter regulation.
In the UK, Uber promised to report crimes directly to police in an effort to improve safety.
28 August 2018
This is the latest instance of violence against Didi passengers
Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing has issued a public apology, blaming "ignorance and pride" for safety lapses that led to the rape and murder of a female passenger.
Executives said they would stop using growth to measure the firm's success and prioritise safety instead.
The move follows Didi's decision to suspend its carpool service, Hitch, amid outrage over the incident.
It was the second killing of a Hitch passenger in three months.
On Tuesday, the company apologised to the family of the victim and said the incident had prompted a reckoning within the firm.
"Our ignorance and pride led to irreversible pain and loss," Didi founder Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu said in an emailed statement.
"We see clearly this is because our vanity overtook our original belief. We raced non-stop, riding on the force of breathless expansion and capital, through these few years; but this has no meaning in such a tragic loss of life."
On Saturday, a 27-year-old driver was arrested and later confessed to the murder of the 20-year-old passenger.
While the driver did not have a criminal record, a previous passenger had filed a complaint against him, according to Didi.
'Try our utmost'
Since the incident, China's transport ministry has pressed Didi for changes, such as better driver vetting and education.
Local regulators have also reportedly met with the company.
On Tuesday, Didi said it would create a system for passengers to call police and improve safety features, such as a function that allows riders to share itineraries.
It also said it would re-evaluate the business model for Hitch.
"We might not be able to eradicate 100% the ill deeds carried out by criminals who might seek to abuse this platform, but we will try our upmost to protect passengers and drivers and continue to drive down crime rate in this industry," the statement said.
Didi Chuxing is the clear market leader in China
Founded in 2012, Didi had grown to handle about 25 million rides a day by the start of 2018, when it claimed more than 450 million users and about 21 million drivers.
The firm, which is backed by major investors such as Softbank, has also been pushing to enter new markets, including Mexico and Japan.
London taxi and private hire cab sex attacks 'at 14-year high'
Uber changes US sexual assault policies
It is not the only ride-hailing service to face a backlash over its safety controls.
Uber, which is also backed by Softbank and has a stake in Didi's China business, has grappled with similar issues in the US and India, prompting calls for tighter regulation.
In the UK, Uber promised to report crimes directly to police in an effort to improve safety.
Myanmar rejects UN accusation of 'genocide' against Rohingya - BBC News
August 29, 2018.
Myanmar rejects UN accusation of 'genocide' against Rohingya
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar
Myanmar has rejected a UN report which called for top Burmese military figures to be investigated for genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Government spokesman Zaw Htay said the country didn't agree with or accept "any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council".
China had earlier also decried the UN report, saying putting pressure on Myanmar was "not helpful".
Zaw Htay said Myanmar had zero tolerance for human rights violations.
His statement is the government's response to the unprecedented UN report, which was published on Monday.
"We didn't allow the FFM [the UN Fact-Finding Mission] to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," Zaw Htay told state news outlet the Global New Light of Myanmar.
He said Myanmar had its own Independent Commission of Enquiry to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".
Myanmar's army has previously cleared itself of wrongdoing.
China, which has a close economic and diplomatic relationship with Myanmar, had earlier said the "historical, religious and ethnic background of the Rakhine issue" was "extremely complex".
"Unilteral criticism or exerting pressure is actually not helpful in resolving the problem," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people are now living in refugee camps like this one in Bangladesh
The military launched a crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state last year after Rohingya militants carried out deadly attacks on police posts.
Thousands of people have died and more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Will we ever see Myanmar's military leaders in the dock?
What is genocide and why is the term so rarely used?
There have also been widespread allegations of human rights abuses, including arbitrary killing, rape and burning of land over many years.
Cate Blanchett on the Rohingya crisis
The government says Rohingya Muslims are illegal immigrants who present a threat to the country's security and Buddhist identity.
The UN's wide-ranging and damning report named six senior military figures, including army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who it said should be investigated for genocide, and called for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
It said the violence of the past year had been "a catastrophe looming for decades".
'Facebook is the internet'
Zaw Htaw also took a strong stance against Facebook, saying the government had been unaware the network was planning to erase accounts and pages linked to the recent allegations.
Facebook removed 18 accounts and 52 Facebook pages in Myanmar and banned 20 groups or organisations altogether after the UN report said it had become a "useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate".
The social media platform has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis.
Army chief Min Aung Hlaing also had his Facebook account banned
"We have many questions to be raised regarding the removal of these Facebook accounts," said Zaw Htay to the Global New Light. "Why did they ban... and how can we retrieve these accounts?"
He agreed with UN's assertion that "for most users, Facebook is the internet".
Why Facebook banned an army chief
Zaw Htay also said that the government had "made inquiries" to Facebook, adding that plans were "underway" to reach an agreement between the government and Facebook.
Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms in Myanmar, with more than 18 million users.
It was the first time Facebook has banned any country's military or political leader.
Myanmar rejects UN accusation of 'genocide' against Rohingya
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar
Myanmar has rejected a UN report which called for top Burmese military figures to be investigated for genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Government spokesman Zaw Htay said the country didn't agree with or accept "any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council".
China had earlier also decried the UN report, saying putting pressure on Myanmar was "not helpful".
Zaw Htay said Myanmar had zero tolerance for human rights violations.
His statement is the government's response to the unprecedented UN report, which was published on Monday.
"We didn't allow the FFM [the UN Fact-Finding Mission] to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," Zaw Htay told state news outlet the Global New Light of Myanmar.
He said Myanmar had its own Independent Commission of Enquiry to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".
Myanmar's army has previously cleared itself of wrongdoing.
China, which has a close economic and diplomatic relationship with Myanmar, had earlier said the "historical, religious and ethnic background of the Rakhine issue" was "extremely complex".
"Unilteral criticism or exerting pressure is actually not helpful in resolving the problem," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people are now living in refugee camps like this one in Bangladesh
The military launched a crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state last year after Rohingya militants carried out deadly attacks on police posts.
Thousands of people have died and more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Will we ever see Myanmar's military leaders in the dock?
What is genocide and why is the term so rarely used?
There have also been widespread allegations of human rights abuses, including arbitrary killing, rape and burning of land over many years.
Cate Blanchett on the Rohingya crisis
The government says Rohingya Muslims are illegal immigrants who present a threat to the country's security and Buddhist identity.
The UN's wide-ranging and damning report named six senior military figures, including army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who it said should be investigated for genocide, and called for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
It said the violence of the past year had been "a catastrophe looming for decades".
'Facebook is the internet'
Zaw Htaw also took a strong stance against Facebook, saying the government had been unaware the network was planning to erase accounts and pages linked to the recent allegations.
Facebook removed 18 accounts and 52 Facebook pages in Myanmar and banned 20 groups or organisations altogether after the UN report said it had become a "useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate".
The social media platform has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis.
Army chief Min Aung Hlaing also had his Facebook account banned
"We have many questions to be raised regarding the removal of these Facebook accounts," said Zaw Htay to the Global New Light. "Why did they ban... and how can we retrieve these accounts?"
He agreed with UN's assertion that "for most users, Facebook is the internet".
Why Facebook banned an army chief
Zaw Htay also said that the government had "made inquiries" to Facebook, adding that plans were "underway" to reach an agreement between the government and Facebook.
Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms in Myanmar, with more than 18 million users.
It was the first time Facebook has banned any country's military or political leader.
Trump warns of 'left-wing violence' if Democrats win mid-term elections - BBC News
August 29, 2018.
Trump warns of 'left-wing violence' if Democrats win mid-term elections
Mr Trump was appealing to conservative Christian groups for help
US President Donald Trump has warned that his policies will be "violently" overturned if the Democrats win November's mid-term elections.
He told Evangelical leaders that the vote was a "referendum" on freedom of speech and religion, and that these were threatened by "violent people".
He appealed to conservative Christian groups for help, saying they were one vote away from "losing everything".
Mid-term elections are widely seen as a test of the president's popularity.
Mr Trump has been battling negative publicity after his ex-lawyer and former campaign chief were convicted earlier this month.
Can we tell now if Democrats will win US election?
Why US mid-term elections matter
Will Trump remain bulletproof?
An audio recording of Mr Trump's closed-door meeting with Evangelical leaders at the White House was leaked to US media.
During the meeting, Mr Trump said the mid-term elections were not just a referendum on him but also "on your religion, it's a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment [guaranteeing basic freedoms]".
"It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa - these are violent people," he said.
Antifa - short for anti-fascist - refers to groups of far-left protesters who fight far-right ideology and regularly clash with far-right demonstrators.
The US president has previously criticised left-wing groups, infamously saying that there had been violence on "many sides" after a white nationalist killed a left-wing demonstrator at a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville last year.
'A battle for the soul of America'
Antifa: Left-wing militants on the rise
Urging the Evangelical leaders to use their influence to swing voters, Mr Trump told them they had "tremendous power".
"In this room, you have people who preach to almost 200 million people. Depending on which Sunday we're talking about," he said.
"Little thing: Merry Christmas, right? You couldn't say 'Merry Christmas'," he added, according to US media reports.
Two of those who heard Mr Trump speak downplayed the remarks, according to a reporter from National Public Radio (NPR).
What's at stake in the midterms?
President Donald Trump himself is not up for re-election, but his ability to govern in the final two years of his term will hinge upon the 6 November outcome.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 seats in the 100-member Senate and 36 out of 50 state governors, along with many state and local offices, are up for election.
Why these Latinos love Trump
Republicans currently hold sway in both chambers of Congress and the White House. But some Democrats have been predicting a "blue wave".
On Tuesday a left-wing Democratic candidate beat better-funded centrist challengers to win his party's primary contest and will stand against Mr Trump's favoured candidate.
Andrew Gillum, who is currently mayor of Tallahassee, will oppose Ron DeSantis. If elected, Mr Gillum would be Florida's first black governor.
Trump warns of 'left-wing violence' if Democrats win mid-term elections
Mr Trump was appealing to conservative Christian groups for help
US President Donald Trump has warned that his policies will be "violently" overturned if the Democrats win November's mid-term elections.
He told Evangelical leaders that the vote was a "referendum" on freedom of speech and religion, and that these were threatened by "violent people".
He appealed to conservative Christian groups for help, saying they were one vote away from "losing everything".
Mid-term elections are widely seen as a test of the president's popularity.
Mr Trump has been battling negative publicity after his ex-lawyer and former campaign chief were convicted earlier this month.
Can we tell now if Democrats will win US election?
Why US mid-term elections matter
Will Trump remain bulletproof?
An audio recording of Mr Trump's closed-door meeting with Evangelical leaders at the White House was leaked to US media.
During the meeting, Mr Trump said the mid-term elections were not just a referendum on him but also "on your religion, it's a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment [guaranteeing basic freedoms]".
"It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa - these are violent people," he said.
Antifa - short for anti-fascist - refers to groups of far-left protesters who fight far-right ideology and regularly clash with far-right demonstrators.
The US president has previously criticised left-wing groups, infamously saying that there had been violence on "many sides" after a white nationalist killed a left-wing demonstrator at a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville last year.
'A battle for the soul of America'
Antifa: Left-wing militants on the rise
Urging the Evangelical leaders to use their influence to swing voters, Mr Trump told them they had "tremendous power".
"In this room, you have people who preach to almost 200 million people. Depending on which Sunday we're talking about," he said.
"Little thing: Merry Christmas, right? You couldn't say 'Merry Christmas'," he added, according to US media reports.
Two of those who heard Mr Trump speak downplayed the remarks, according to a reporter from National Public Radio (NPR).
What's at stake in the midterms?
President Donald Trump himself is not up for re-election, but his ability to govern in the final two years of his term will hinge upon the 6 November outcome.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 seats in the 100-member Senate and 36 out of 50 state governors, along with many state and local offices, are up for election.
Why these Latinos love Trump
Republicans currently hold sway in both chambers of Congress and the White House. But some Democrats have been predicting a "blue wave".
On Tuesday a left-wing Democratic candidate beat better-funded centrist challengers to win his party's primary contest and will stand against Mr Trump's favoured candidate.
Andrew Gillum, who is currently mayor of Tallahassee, will oppose Ron DeSantis. If elected, Mr Gillum would be Florida's first black governor.
Toyota Is Investing $500 Million in Uber to Get Self-Driving Cars on the Road - TIME Business
Toyota Is Investing $500 Million in Uber to Get Self-Driving Cars on the Road
Posted: 27 Aug 2018 07:20 PM PDT
Toyota Motor Corp. is expanding an alliance with Uber Technologies Inc. through a new investment and a plan to get self-driving cars on the road.
The Japanese automaker is investing $500 million in Uber, the companies said on Monday. The deal values the ride-hailing giant at $72 billion, said a person familiar with the matter.
As part of the pact, Toyota will manufacture Sienna minivans equipped with Uber’s self-driving technology, and another company will operate the fleet. They have yet to identify the third partner, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.
Spokesmen for Uber and Toyota initially declined to comment but later confirmed the news. The Wall Street Journal reported the investment earlier Monday, and details of the driverless-car partnership hadn’t been previously reported.
“Since 2015, we’ve been working to bring safe, reliable self-driving technology to the Uber network,” Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, wrote in a blog post Monday afternoon. “We knew we couldn’t do it alone, which is why we continue to partner with world-class vehicle manufacturers to make our vision a reality.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive officer, is looking to stabilize the company after a rocky year of corporate scandals and the death of a pedestrian struck by an Uber self-driving car. Over that time, the company’s share price has seen more ups and downs than a typical privately held company.
The deal with Toyota raises Uber’s paper valuation by 15 percent from the last investment and matches the value of shares given to Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo after Uber settled a lawsuit over self-driving cars. A group of investors valued Uber at $62 billion earlier this year.
Uber has developed a three-pronged self-driving strategy. For one, Uber purchased Volvos, retrofitted the cars with its self-driving technology and operates the fleet on its own. In another, Daimler AG will own and operate its own self-driving cars on Uber’s network. And the deal with Toyota becomes a third pillar, where Uber licenses its technology.
Public road testing with Uber’s self-driving Volvos is still on hold after one of its vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March. Uber had deactivated Volvo’s automatic braking system in that vehicle, which raised questions about safety. The incident tainted the company’s expensive self-driving car program, giving automakers another reason to worry about working with Uber.
Nonetheless, Toyota has continued to stick with Uber since its initial investment in 2016. Toyota Financial Services Corp. has been providing incentives to Uber drivers to purchase the company’s vehicles. As with traditional rental companies like Avis Budget Group Inc., Toyota is also trying to sell Uber fleet-management services based on the rapidly expanding volume of data it’s collecting from connected cars. These services include being able to monitor whether a car is being properly maintained or driven too aggressively.
In a separate partnership around self-driving vehicle development outlined in January, a Toyota spokesman said Uber wouldn’t turn off the automaker’s built-in safety features, including radar and other sensors that help to anticipate what other vehicles and pedestrians are doing in a wide space around the vehicle.
Posted: 27 Aug 2018 07:20 PM PDT
Toyota Motor Corp. is expanding an alliance with Uber Technologies Inc. through a new investment and a plan to get self-driving cars on the road.
The Japanese automaker is investing $500 million in Uber, the companies said on Monday. The deal values the ride-hailing giant at $72 billion, said a person familiar with the matter.
As part of the pact, Toyota will manufacture Sienna minivans equipped with Uber’s self-driving technology, and another company will operate the fleet. They have yet to identify the third partner, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.
Spokesmen for Uber and Toyota initially declined to comment but later confirmed the news. The Wall Street Journal reported the investment earlier Monday, and details of the driverless-car partnership hadn’t been previously reported.
“Since 2015, we’ve been working to bring safe, reliable self-driving technology to the Uber network,” Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, wrote in a blog post Monday afternoon. “We knew we couldn’t do it alone, which is why we continue to partner with world-class vehicle manufacturers to make our vision a reality.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive officer, is looking to stabilize the company after a rocky year of corporate scandals and the death of a pedestrian struck by an Uber self-driving car. Over that time, the company’s share price has seen more ups and downs than a typical privately held company.
The deal with Toyota raises Uber’s paper valuation by 15 percent from the last investment and matches the value of shares given to Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo after Uber settled a lawsuit over self-driving cars. A group of investors valued Uber at $62 billion earlier this year.
Uber has developed a three-pronged self-driving strategy. For one, Uber purchased Volvos, retrofitted the cars with its self-driving technology and operates the fleet on its own. In another, Daimler AG will own and operate its own self-driving cars on Uber’s network. And the deal with Toyota becomes a third pillar, where Uber licenses its technology.
Public road testing with Uber’s self-driving Volvos is still on hold after one of its vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March. Uber had deactivated Volvo’s automatic braking system in that vehicle, which raised questions about safety. The incident tainted the company’s expensive self-driving car program, giving automakers another reason to worry about working with Uber.
Nonetheless, Toyota has continued to stick with Uber since its initial investment in 2016. Toyota Financial Services Corp. has been providing incentives to Uber drivers to purchase the company’s vehicles. As with traditional rental companies like Avis Budget Group Inc., Toyota is also trying to sell Uber fleet-management services based on the rapidly expanding volume of data it’s collecting from connected cars. These services include being able to monitor whether a car is being properly maintained or driven too aggressively.
In a separate partnership around self-driving vehicle development outlined in January, a Toyota spokesman said Uber wouldn’t turn off the automaker’s built-in safety features, including radar and other sensors that help to anticipate what other vehicles and pedestrians are doing in a wide space around the vehicle.
Somebody Just Paid a Record $48.4 Million for a Rare Vintage Ferrari - TIME
Somebody Just Paid a Record $48.4 Million for a Rare Vintage Ferrari
Posted: 28 Aug 2018 06:47 AM PDT
A red 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $48.4 million on Saturday in California, the most ever paid for a classic car at auction.
The vehicle was offered by RM Sotheby’s in Monterey, and was estimated to fetch between $45 million and $60 million, the highest valuation ever for a vintage auto at auction. It smashed the previous record of $38.1 million paid for a 1963 model of the same car in 2014.
The seller was Greg Whitten, chairman of Numerix Software Ltd. and an early Microsoft Corp. employee, who purchased it in 2000. Sotheby’s declined to say how much he bought it for, but said the market price for such Ferraris at the time was about $10 million.
Ferrari built just 36 examples of the model from 1953 to 1964, and these elegant race cars have generated the highest prices among all vintage automobiles in recent years. A 1963 version sold for $70 million in a private transaction earlier this year, according to Sotheby’s.
The record price includes the buyer’s premium based on the hammer price of $44 million, calculated at 12 percent on the first $250,000 and 10 percent on the remainder.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
How a US-China trade war could hurt us all - BBC News
How a US-China trade war could hurt us all
Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent
@BBCKarishma on Twitter
5 July 2018
Both sides may ramp up the rhetoric to such an extent neither can back down
What happens when the world's two biggest economies go to war?
Ok, so it's not a real war - but the US and China are at the beginning of a trade war - and no-one knows just how bad it could get.
So here's how a US-China trade war could hurt us.
Tit-for-tat
A list of Chinese products will be hit with a 25% tariff from Friday - effectively making them 25% more expensive for US consumers.
Technology goods like semiconductor chips assembled in China. They're found in consumer products used in everyday life such as televisions, personal computers, smartphones, and cars
A wide variety of products ranging from plastics, nuclear reactors and dairy-making equipment
According to the Petersen Institute of International Economics more than 90% of the products on the US tariffs list are made up of intermediate inputs or capital equipment. That means stuff that you need as raw material to make other products - so it could have a knock-on effect on many other goods too.
What the US really wants to target though are things produced under China's Made in China 2025 policy.
In retaliation to the US moves, China has hit these sectors:
American agriculture - hitting at American farmers and ranchers, a political vote bank that US President Trump relies on. Some 91% of the 545 products China is placing a tariff on are from the agriculture sector
The car sector - companies such as Tesla and Chrysler manufacture in the US and their products going into China would be affected
Medical products; coal; petroleum (but only marginally).
'Getting scary'
And while Beijing is really good at the chest-thumping, fist-wagging rhetoric, the reality on the ground is much more serious.
What is Beijing planning with its "Made in China 2025" programme?
"Our industry contacts in China have said things like 'seems pretty serious,' or 'this is getting scary', even 'I think there's a chance of things getting worse'," says Vinesh Motwani of Silk Road Research.
He's recently returned from a trip to the mainland, and as part of his research routinely talks to China-based firms to gauge business sentiment there.
These worries, he says, can translate into "increased caution and lower confidence" for businesses as they try to navigate the uncertainty ahead.
Which means: expansion plans could be put on ice. And if Chinese expansion is on hold that has a direct impact on the rest of us in Asia.
Shift manufacturing?
Obviously the US and China's economies are most at risk, although they're not the only ones.
According to DBS's chief economist Taimur Baig, an all-out trade war could shave 0.25% off the GDP of both economies this year. It gets much worse next year - with both countries seeing a reduction in growth of about 0.5% or more.
Mr Baig adds that "considering China grows at 6-7% and the US at 2-3%, we believe the damage would be greater to the US than on China".
But countries like South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan could all be affected too because of disruption to supply chains.
Why the US-China trade war will hit most of our pockets
China sources a lot of components that go into its finished goods from these other countries. As Nick Marro of the Economist Intelligence Unit points out, "any dent in China's export flows will inevitably affect" these other countries.
The case could be made for manufacturing to shift to these other countries - and for them to take advantage of selling to the US - but that shift would take time, and it's hard to see who could match China's scale.
Ultimately, the US consumer will end up paying more for these products.
China backlash
US firms operating in China could also face a "China backlash".
Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla, for instance, has already highlighted just how important the Chinese market is to it.
But it imports all of its products to China and so would see a 25% tariff placed on its cars sold in China - on top of the 15% tax imported vehicles already face there.
This would inevitably push up prices for Tesla in China, making its vehicles less competitive than they already are, relative to others.
Sino-US tensions could also end up "delaying or preventing" Tesla's ability to release its full potential in China, according to Silk Road Research.
How bad can it get?
It's the question I ask every business person I meet, and the answer is typically always the same: nobody knows.
If history is any guide, then past trade wars have led to deep economic malaise. In particular the US Smoot-Hawley tariffs enacted in 1930 are thought to have inspired a trade war, and led to a massive decline in global trade.
As one study points out, world trade fell by 66% from 1929 to 1934, while US exports and imports to and from Europe each also fell by about two-thirds.
While no one is saying we're there yet, businesses are getting more concerned than they have been in the past, especially because of all the uncertainty.
The tit-for-tat mentality between Beijing and Washington could just end up antagonising both sides to a point where they cannot climb down from their hostile positions for fear of losing face.
"You start with protectionism and isolationism," says Victor Mills, chief executive of Singapore's International Chamber of Commerce. "And then you don't just beggar your neighbour, you beggar yourself."
What many business people are hoping of course, is that this sound and fury is just the start of another series of negotiations.
But the worry is that if it's not - it will escalate, and everybody will be the poorer. And that includes you and me.
Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent
@BBCKarishma on Twitter
5 July 2018
Both sides may ramp up the rhetoric to such an extent neither can back down
What happens when the world's two biggest economies go to war?
Ok, so it's not a real war - but the US and China are at the beginning of a trade war - and no-one knows just how bad it could get.
So here's how a US-China trade war could hurt us.
Tit-for-tat
A list of Chinese products will be hit with a 25% tariff from Friday - effectively making them 25% more expensive for US consumers.
Technology goods like semiconductor chips assembled in China. They're found in consumer products used in everyday life such as televisions, personal computers, smartphones, and cars
A wide variety of products ranging from plastics, nuclear reactors and dairy-making equipment
According to the Petersen Institute of International Economics more than 90% of the products on the US tariffs list are made up of intermediate inputs or capital equipment. That means stuff that you need as raw material to make other products - so it could have a knock-on effect on many other goods too.
What the US really wants to target though are things produced under China's Made in China 2025 policy.
In retaliation to the US moves, China has hit these sectors:
American agriculture - hitting at American farmers and ranchers, a political vote bank that US President Trump relies on. Some 91% of the 545 products China is placing a tariff on are from the agriculture sector
The car sector - companies such as Tesla and Chrysler manufacture in the US and their products going into China would be affected
Medical products; coal; petroleum (but only marginally).
'Getting scary'
And while Beijing is really good at the chest-thumping, fist-wagging rhetoric, the reality on the ground is much more serious.
What is Beijing planning with its "Made in China 2025" programme?
"Our industry contacts in China have said things like 'seems pretty serious,' or 'this is getting scary', even 'I think there's a chance of things getting worse'," says Vinesh Motwani of Silk Road Research.
He's recently returned from a trip to the mainland, and as part of his research routinely talks to China-based firms to gauge business sentiment there.
These worries, he says, can translate into "increased caution and lower confidence" for businesses as they try to navigate the uncertainty ahead.
Which means: expansion plans could be put on ice. And if Chinese expansion is on hold that has a direct impact on the rest of us in Asia.
Shift manufacturing?
Obviously the US and China's economies are most at risk, although they're not the only ones.
According to DBS's chief economist Taimur Baig, an all-out trade war could shave 0.25% off the GDP of both economies this year. It gets much worse next year - with both countries seeing a reduction in growth of about 0.5% or more.
Mr Baig adds that "considering China grows at 6-7% and the US at 2-3%, we believe the damage would be greater to the US than on China".
But countries like South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan could all be affected too because of disruption to supply chains.
Why the US-China trade war will hit most of our pockets
China sources a lot of components that go into its finished goods from these other countries. As Nick Marro of the Economist Intelligence Unit points out, "any dent in China's export flows will inevitably affect" these other countries.
The case could be made for manufacturing to shift to these other countries - and for them to take advantage of selling to the US - but that shift would take time, and it's hard to see who could match China's scale.
Ultimately, the US consumer will end up paying more for these products.
China backlash
US firms operating in China could also face a "China backlash".
Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla, for instance, has already highlighted just how important the Chinese market is to it.
But it imports all of its products to China and so would see a 25% tariff placed on its cars sold in China - on top of the 15% tax imported vehicles already face there.
This would inevitably push up prices for Tesla in China, making its vehicles less competitive than they already are, relative to others.
Sino-US tensions could also end up "delaying or preventing" Tesla's ability to release its full potential in China, according to Silk Road Research.
How bad can it get?
It's the question I ask every business person I meet, and the answer is typically always the same: nobody knows.
If history is any guide, then past trade wars have led to deep economic malaise. In particular the US Smoot-Hawley tariffs enacted in 1930 are thought to have inspired a trade war, and led to a massive decline in global trade.
As one study points out, world trade fell by 66% from 1929 to 1934, while US exports and imports to and from Europe each also fell by about two-thirds.
While no one is saying we're there yet, businesses are getting more concerned than they have been in the past, especially because of all the uncertainty.
The tit-for-tat mentality between Beijing and Washington could just end up antagonising both sides to a point where they cannot climb down from their hostile positions for fear of losing face.
"You start with protectionism and isolationism," says Victor Mills, chief executive of Singapore's International Chamber of Commerce. "And then you don't just beggar your neighbour, you beggar yourself."
What many business people are hoping of course, is that this sound and fury is just the start of another series of negotiations.
But the worry is that if it's not - it will escalate, and everybody will be the poorer. And that includes you and me.
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