Brexit: Legal action to decide if MPs can stop Article 50 gets go ahead - Independent

22/12/2017

Brexit: Legal action to decide if MPs can stop Article 50 gets go ahead

Move comes as senior EU legal expert argues the UK could halt Brexit without consent of other 27 member states

Rob Merrick Deputy Political Editor @Rob_Merrick

Theresa May signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50 Getty

A legal action to decide if Britain can unilaterally halt Brexit if MPs vote down Theresa May’s withdrawal deal should go ahead, a court has ruled.

The Government will now be required to respond to a petition, brought by a cross-party group of Scottish politicians, after the decision in Edinburgh.

The politicians want the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to rule on whether the UK can halt the Article 50 process without needing the approval of all other 27 EU member states.

Secret Brexit legal advice could be revealed in Commons vote

The move comes as one of the EU’s most senior legal experts boosted the case by arguing the UK could withdraw the exit notification without that consent.

“Article 50 is based on the principle that withdrawing from the EU is a unilateral decision. Nobody can force a state to leave,” Jean-Claude Piris, former head of the EU council’s legal service, wrote on Twitter.

“The only condition is that [the] decision is taken in conformity with its constitutional requirements.”

Meanwhile, as The Independent reported, MPs will vote next month in an attempt to lift the lid on secret legal advice which is believed to say that Britain could act alone to halt Brexit.

The Prime Minister has been accused of suppressing a formal opinion that Parliament has the power to reverse the Article 50 notice.

The controversy could be crucial if MPs reject any Brexit agreement she secures in a “meaningful vote” to take place next year, before the withdrawal process can start.

The signatories to the action, at the Court of Session in the Scottish capital, SNP and Liberal Democrat MPs, MEPs representing the SNP and Labour, and SNP and Green members of the Holyrood Parliament.

The inclusion of Labour’s two Scottish MEPs, David Martin and Catherine Stihler, adds to party divisions, given Jeremy Corbyn’s stance that the referendum decision should be respected.

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A crowdfunding campaign to meet the legal costs has passed its £50,000 target, with a petition asking the Scottish judges to refer the issue to the ECJ in Luxembourg.

Jolyon Maugham, a QC coordinating the action through his Good Law Project campaign group, said it was right for the UK parliament to have the power to cancel the Brexit process.

It would allow Brexit to be abandoned if the Prime Minister’s deal was poor – as well as strengthening her hand in the negotiations in Brussels, he argued.

Poll: Most People Believe the Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Trump Are True - TIME

22/12/2017

Poll: Most People Believe the Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Trump Are True

By NASH JENKINS 8:58 AM EST

More than six in ten Americans believe the various allegations of sexual misconduct raised against President Donald Trump, according to a new CNN poll released Friday morning.

Of those surveyed, 61% said they believed reports that Trump has in the past made “unwanted sexual advances against women” were mostly true. Even more — 63% of respondents — said that the allegations warranted a congressional investigation.

The White House has repeatedly denied sexual misconduct allegations against President Trump.

Unsurprisingly, the results of the survey fell largely along partisan lines. Nearly 90% of Democrats surveyed said they believed the reports, compared to 18% of Republicans. Pollers also asked if Trump should resign the presidency in light of the accusations: 50% of all asked said yes, but only 10% of the respondents who said they leaned Republican answered in the affirmative, compared to 79% of those who said they leaned Democrat.

The poll, conducted last week, also reflected shifting long-term ideological trends in the U.S. 64% of those who answered said they believed the country would be better governed if more women were elected to public office, up from 57% in 1999 and just 28% in 1984. Only 8% of those interviewed in last week’s survey said that sexual harassment was “not very serious” as a national problem; in 1998, during the height of the scandal surrounding President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, more than one in five Americans said they weren’t concerned about it.

Hidden gyrations underpin 2017 global fund flows - Financial Times

22/12/2017

Hidden gyrations underpin 2017 global fund flows

Investors poured $640bn into stock and bond funds, up more than tenfold

Bond funds hit by biggest outflows since election

Eric Platt in New York

Financial markets will be best remembered in 2017 for their lack of volatility. Global stocks never fell into the red and investors comfortably shook off the threat of higher interest rates.

But beneath the surface, gyrations were afoot. Bets at the start of the year that a US tax overhaul would buoy corporate profitability, and in turn, lift parts of the stock market, subsided even if Congress and the White House did manage to pass the bill in recent days. Those investors who called time on the great bond rally, which saw yields hit historic lows last year, also proved too early.

Equities versus bonds

Investors poured $640bn into stock and bond funds this year, up more than tenfold from a year earlier when the US election and the Brexit vote sent shockwaves through markets, according to data provider EPFR. The relative placid trading environment in 2017 saw valuations rise to uncomfortable levels for some investors.

Fixed income funds curried slightly more favour this year, attracting nearly $350bn of the overall figure. Central bank stimulus from the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan, including multibillion-dollar monthly bond-buying programmes run by both institutions, was one of the key factors buoying demand.

The relentless competition from exchange traded funds continued to press on traditional mutual fund managers in 2017. The passively managed funds, which simply track big indices, attracted $592bn across fixed income and equity vehicles this year, dwarfing the $51bn added to traditional funds tracked by EPFR.

While fixed income mutual funds still held the lead over bond ETFs, pulling in $60bn more over the year, the scales were tipped in the other direction for stock funds. Equity ETFs enjoyed $448bn of additions this year, more than double the haul for the asset class in either 2015 or 2016.

By contrast, stock mutual funds suffered $153bn of redemptions. The shift into passive vehicles continued despite better performance from actively managed portfolios.

Emerging market surge

In the weeks after the US election, emerging market stock and bond valuations slid in anticipation of protectionist policies from Donald Trump. Investors pulled nearly $30bn from the asset class and currencies, such as the Mexican peso that were seen vulnerable to a tough new trade stance from the US, declined.

Yet just over a year later, EM investors are poised for one of their best years since the financial crisis. The MSCI EM index has climbed 30 per cent this year. EM bonds have returned 8.1 per cent, separate data from Bloomberg Barclays Indices show.

The rally has been fuelled in part by steady investor inflows to the asset class. EM bond funds have counted $67bn of further capital this year. Portfolios investing in EM stocks have enjoyed nearly $61bn.

b Michele, JPMorgan Asset Management’s global head of fixed income, put some of the strength to the stability of China, which had sent ripples through the market at the end of 2015 and start of 2016. And while attention often centred on Venezuela, EM were broadly expected to eke out their fastest economic growth since 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund.

International and US equities

Emmanuel Macron’s victory in France’s presidential election in May, which quashed fears that a populist anti-euro party would take power, sent investors scrambling into stock funds across the continent. European equity funds registered $39bn of inflows this year, reversing part of the $100bn of redemptions that hit the asset class in 2016.

“We’ve rotated into international [stocks],” Sebastien Page, the head of asset allocation at T Rowe Price, says. “Outside of the US, you are earlier in the business cycle, you get cheaper valuations, you still have much more accommodative central banks . . . and you have fairly good momentum in terms of earnings growth and returns.”

Investment grade debt proves alluring

Central banks have pumped $14tn into global financial markets since the crisis, pushing asset managers into riskier investments.

Over the past year that manifested itself in the addition of some $277bn to investment grade bond funds. JPMorgan’s Mr Michele notes that many of the investors trading out of government bonds shifted into US corporates, helping suppress yields on the debt.

“Every time a central bank was doing a round of quantitative easing, the holders of government bonds overseas would sell those bonds to the central bank, take that money and come into the US market and buy at much higher yields,” he says.

Risk premiums on high-quality US corporate debt now sit at the lowest level in more than a decade, according to ICE BofAML Indices. But the buying has not been indiscriminate.

High-yield bond funds, judged to be riskier by the main rating agencies than their investment grade peers, have suffered outflows over the course of the year.

Trump claims companies are 'showering their workers with bonuses' following tax plan passage - CNBC News

22/12/2017

Trump claims companies are 'showering their workers with bonuses' following tax plan passage

President Donald Trump cheers the corporations who have given bonuses to workers.

The GOP passed a plan this week chopping taxes on corporations.

Jacob Pramuk | @jacobpramuk

CNBC.com

President Donald Trump speaks after the U.S. Congress passed sweeping tax overhaul legislation, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, December 20, 2017.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

President Donald Trump speaks after the U.S. Congress passed sweeping tax overhaul legislation, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, December 20, 2017.

President Donald Trump on Friday cheered several corporations' decisions to issue employee bonuses following the GOP's passage of its tax overhaul.

In a tweet, Trump asserted that "big companies and corporations" are "showering their workers with bonuses." He added: "This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage."

@realDonaldTrump

Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” - that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!

11:47 PM - Dec 22, 2017

After Congress passed the legislation this week, at least five major companies announced they would give workers bonuses, boost their minimum wage, or increase capital investment. The GOP tax plan, which Trump is expected to sign into law soon, slashes the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.

Still, the number of companies announcing such bonuses is only a tiny fraction of the number of major corporations in the United States. (Disclosure: Comcast, one of the companies that announced it would give bonuses, is CNBC's parent company.)

The Republican tax plan chops the tax rate for corporations permanently, while temporarily trimming the tax burden for most — but not all — individuals. Republicans, who have long contended that the benefits of corporate tax cuts would filter to workers through increased productivity and wage growth, broadly cheered the bonus announcements this week.

In his tweet Friday, Trump also called the tax bill "popular." In nearly all public opinion polls of the GOP plan, more respondents disapproved of the tax plan than approved of it.

Republican leaders contend more voters will warm to the plan when they start seeing the tax cuts reflected in their paychecks.

Trump’s regulatory rollbacks, from net neutrality to campus sex assault - NBC News

DEC 22 2017, 4:39 AM ET

Trump’s regulatory rollbacks, from net neutrality to campus sex assault

by SUZY KHIMM

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has celebrated his regulatory rollbacks as one of the biggest triumphs of his first year in office.

While he’s struggled for legislative wins — the passage of the GOP tax bill being the only major exception — his administration has wielded the executive branch's authority to shape scores of federal rules and reverse Obama-era policies on everything from climate change to campus sexual assault. He boasted in a speech at the White House in mid-December that his administration had eliminated 22 old regulations for every new one it had issued.

Trump touts 'regulatory savings' at White House event

Play Facebook Twitter Embed

Trump touts 'regulatory savings' at White House event 1:50

By certain measures, Trump has overstated his success. Fully eliminating rules that are already on the books is typically a time-consuming and onerous process. Instead, his administration has focused on stopping or delaying proposed regulations that have yet to take effect, and many of these rules are still being developed or weren’t poised to take effect anyway, as Bloomberg News reported recently. Federal courts have also curtailed some of Trump’s major deregulatory efforts.

That said, Trump has made progress in halting or slowing some major Obama-era initiatives. And some regulatory experts believe that the message the president is sending on deregulation is just as important as any specific policy changes he is enacting.

"This is the most anti-regulatory administration — probably even more so than the early Reagan administration — since regulations became a policy issue," said Stuart Shapiro, a Rutgers University professor who studies regulatory policy.

Here are some of the Trump administration’s most significant deregulatory actions in 2017:

Worked to eliminate the Clean Power Plan

In October, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would eliminate the centerpiece of Obama’s climate-change strategy. In 2015, the Obama administration finalized the Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce power-sector emissions by 32 percent by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. The plan required states to hit certain emissions targets in order to cut greenhouse gases, reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and boosting clean-energy sources. EPA chief Scott Pruitt said that repealing the measure meant that "the war against coal is over."

DEC. 7: Pruitt testifies EPA will replace Obama-era Clean Power Plan Play Facebook Twitter Embed

DEC. 7: Pruitt testifies EPA will replace Obama-era Clean Power Plan 1:52

The Supreme Court had already halted the plan after legal challenges by a group of states and industry stakeholders, and a federal appeals court is reviewing the measure. Meanwhile, the EPA said it is moving to rescind the plan and replace it with an alternative.

Killed net neutrality

In mid-December, the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines to eliminate rules requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all internet traffic equally. The Obama-era rules prohibited ISPs from blocking or slowing down access to specific websites, or charging more for paid "fast lanes." (Comcast, the parent company of NBC News, said shortly before the vote that it has not paid for fast lanes or prioritize internet traffic, and has "no plans to do so.")

FCC's Republicans revoke net neutrality Play Facebook Twitter Embed

FCC's Republicans revoke net neutrality 2:16

While the FCC is an independent agency, Trump named Ajit Pai as its chairman shortly after taking office in January. Pai criticized the net neutrality rules as unnecessary impediments to innovation and competition that would ultimately hurt consumers. The agency’s controversial vote has already prompted a fierce backlash: Democrats have vowed to reinstate net neutrality through congressional procedure, while New York’s attorney general said he would take the lead in suing on behalf of several states to block the decision.

Delayed a methane rule

Trump’s Interior Department delayed a rule to limit methane emissions from oil and gas operations on federal lands, pushing back implementation until 2019. The Obama rule had aimed to cut down on leaks, and the venting and flaring of methane gas, which has increased with the rise of hydraulic fracturing. Methane makes up 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and is a more powerful pollutant than carbon dioxide.

Federal courts had blocked Trump’s earlier attempt to stop the methane rule, and a congressional push to stop the rule fell short this year. But the administration has continued to persist in its efforts to halt the measure, which the fossil-fuel industry has criticized as unnecessary and burdensome.

Revoked guidance on campus sexual assault

In September, the Education Department rescinded Obama’s guidelines for addressing sexual assault on college campuses under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination by sex in any federally funded education program. The Obama administration had instructed colleges to use a "preponderance of evidence" when evaluating sexual assault cases.

Betsy DeVos Overhauls Obama-Era Guidance For Campus Sex Assault Play Facebook Twitter Embed

Betsy DeVos Overhauls Obama-Era Guidance For Campus Sex Assault 1:54

Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, said that standard was unfair.

"Schools have been compelled by Washington to enforce ambiguous and incredibly broad definitions of assault and harassment," she said in September, adding that "if everything is harassment, then nothing is."

Instead, the Education Department has told institutions to use a standard of “clear and convincing evidence” in sexual assault cases.

Used Congress to overturn Obama-era rules

With the Trump administration’s support, the Republican-controlled Congress killed more than a dozen Obama-era regulations by using an obscure legislative tool known as the Congressional Review Act. The procedure gives Congress 60 legislative working days to overturn a rule after it is published in the Federal Register.

The White House and Congress used the act to nullify rules that Obama imposed in the last days of his administration: They overturned new limits on gun sales to those with severe mental illness; undid requirements for employers to keep records on workplace injuries and illnesses for five years; and repealed restrictions on internet service providers’ ability to use and sell personal data, including web-browsing history, among other regulatory changes.

Trump and Congress used the same tool to kill a new regulation that would have made it easier for consumers to band together in class-action lawsuits against financial firms, restricting the use of forced arbitration clauses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent agency, put out the rule in July under the leadership of Obama appointee Richard Cordray, who left the agency in late November.

Bitcoin Tumbles Through $13,000 as `Sharks Start to Circle' - Bloomberg

21/12/2017

Bitcoin Tumbles Through $13,000 as `Sharks Start to Circle'

By Samuel Potter and Eddie Van Der Walt

December 22, 2017, 2:49 PM GMT+11 Updated on

Biggest cryptocurrency falls as much as 21% as selloff goes on

Frenzy for digital tokens has been luring established

Bitcoin Tumbles Below $13,000

A buying opportunity? Bloomberg’s Paul Dobson reports.

Bitcoin plunged by more than $2,500 Friday to extend its four-day slide to 31 percent as the frenzy surrounding digital currencies faced one of its biggest tests yet.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency sank below $13,000 as this week’s selloff entered a fourth day with increasing momentum. Other cryptocurrencies also tumbled, with bitcoin cash crashing 35 percent and ethereum losing 23 percent over the past 24 hours, according to coinmarketcap.com.

The losses represent a major test for the cryptocurrency industry and the blockchain technology that underpins it, which have rapidly entered the mainstream in recent weeks. Bears cast doubt on the value of the virtual assets, with UBS Group AG this week calling bitcoin the “biggest speculative bubble in history.” Bulls argue the technology is a game changer for the world of investment and finance. Both will be closely watching the outcome of the current selloff.

“The sharks are beginning to circle here, and the futures markets may give them a venue to strike,” said Ross Norman, chief executive officer of London-based bullion dealer Sharps Pixley Ltd., which offers gold in exchange for bitcoin. “Bitcoin’s been heavily driven by retail investors, but there’ll be some aggressive funds looking for the right opportunity to hammer this thing lower.”

Traders who bought the currency on futures exchanges using collateral may start facing margin calls following the price decline. Two venues launched products in recent weeks that required hefty security, with Cboe needing 44 percent to clear contracts, and the CME 47 percent. Brokers set safety nets even higher.

“There’s no doubt people who got in on margin will face some pressure here,” Norman said by phone from London. “The volumes weren’t huge, so it won’t be a major price driver, but for those caught on the wrong side it will hurt.”

Crypto Mania

Many of the recent news stories and market moves connected to cryptocurrencies appear to carry hallmarks of the mania phase of a bubble. Long Island Iced Tea Corp. shares rose as much as 289 percent after the unprofitable Hicksville, New York-based company rebranded itself Long Blockchain Corp. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday bitcoin isn’t functioning like a normal means of payment and is being used for speculation.

Still, cryptocurrencies are attracting established players. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is setting up a trading desk to make markets in digital currencies such as bitcoin, according to people with knowledge of the strategy. The bank aims to get the business running by the end of June, if not earlier, two of the people said.

Bitcoin was trading 17 percent lower at $12,775 at 8:16 a.m. New York time on Friday. It reached a peak of $19,511 earlier this month, and is still up more than 10-fold for the year.

— With assistance by Richard Frost

Paul Ryan Confident American People Will Warm Up To Tax Plan Once They Realize Life A Cruel And Meaningless Farce - Onion Politics

21/12/2017

Paul Ryan Confident American People Will Warm Up To Tax Plan Once They Realize Life A Cruel And Meaningless Farce

WASHINGTON—Saying the current disapproval would soon give way to support, House Speaker Paul Ryan was confident Thursday that the American people will warm up to the new tax plan once they realize life is a cruel and meaningless farce. “Although it may not be very popular now, I’m certain that Americans will come around to this new system when they begin to understand the ruthless absurdity of existence,” said Ryan, explaining that once taxpayers see that there is no objective moral framework in the unforgiving chaos of the universe, they will learn to appreciate what this bill actually does. “I think many voters will find a lot in this tax overhaul that they can embrace when it finally dawns on them that they have no agency and it’s futile to resist entropy. We just need to keep hammering home to average folks that our time here on Earth is a joke with no punchline.” At press time, Ryan said that once Americans accepted the brutality and pointlessness of life, they’d be just as amenable to gutting Medicare.

How did your country vote on the Jerusalem resolution ? - BBC News

22/12/2017

How did your country vote on the Jerusalem resolution ?

A resolution backed overwhelmingly by the United Nations has effectively called on the US to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Part of the document reads: "...any decisions and actions which purport to have altered, the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the [UN] Security Council".

The resolution "calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem".

The nine countries that voted against the resolution were: the United States, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.

The 35 nations that abstained were: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu.

The 128 that voted in favour were:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan

Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi

Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus

Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica

Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia

Finland, France

Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Guyana

Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy

Japan, Jordan

Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan

Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg

Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique

Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway

Oman

Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Portugal

Qatar

Russia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria

Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey

United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan

Venezuela, Vietnam

Yemen

Zimbabwe

The 21 nations that were not present for the vote were: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mongolia, Myanmar, Republic of Moldova, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Zambia.

The countries that backed the US

Paul Blake, BBC News, Washington DC

Most of the countries that voted with the US are members of the Compact of Free Association (COFA), says Daniel Kliman, a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, "which would explain their votes".

COFA is a deal struck between the US and several South Pacific islands, including Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. It was signed into US law in 1986.

Under the agreement, the islands get US economic help, defence guarantees and a few other benefits.

In return, the US gets military operating rights in those countries, Mr Kliman says.

Micronesia, formally known as the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), has a history of voting alongside Israel.

In 2009, then-president Manny Mori said: "Owing in part to its Judeo-Christian tradition, the FSM Government has been an ardent supporter of the State of Israel at the United Nations and other international organizations, particularly on the annual resolutions that are critical of Israel. The FSM's almost unparallel voting record at the UN has been a central feature of its foreign policy."