TL;DR: The compact and versatile Inspiron 2-in-1 laptop is perfect for those who need their tech to adapt to their lifestyle — pick one up on Dell's website for $263.99, saving you $86.
There are so many options for what kind of tech you can get to aid you in your daily life — it’s honestly hard to choose, and getting too much will max out your credit card balance before you know it. Should you get a laptop? A tablet? Well, we say why not have both?
But, didn’t we just tell you not to buy every device in sight? Yeah, we did, but what we’re talking about is this Inspiron 2-in-1 laptop from Dell — it’s a full $86 off on the Dell website right now, and it’s all one device. Read more...
Spotify's "Premium Family Plan" is now family friendly.
The company announced on Monday that it's adding an "Explicit Content Filter" to the family plan, enabling parents to prevent their kids from listening to songs with bad words and adult situations
Amazingly, this wasn't an option before, even though the Family Plan has been available for years. Now to hear swear words, your kids will have to go, well, just about anywhere else on the internet.
Spotify is adding a few other options to the Premium Family Plan, as well, including the "Family Mix," which the company describes as "a personalized playlist packed with songs the whole family enjoys." So, 100 Billy Joel songs? Got it! Read more...
TL;DR: Fun and useful subscription boxes are 20% off at Cratejoy with code BACKTOSCHOOL.
Back-to-school shopping doesn’t have to just mean buying supplies required for class. You can also treat yourself to some fun purchasesCratejoy is holding a sale in honor of the new school year starting.
There are more than 200 subscription boxes included in this sale. We’ll highlight a few, but you’re going to want to check them all out for yourself. Read more...
Everyone hypes up air fryers as making food better for you, but "healthier" can be kind of a vague concept to grasp.
Let's put some real numbers to it: According to My Fitness Pal, a chicken wing in the air fryer has 81 calories. A chicken wing from KFC has 130 calories. If you were to eat a bucket of five, that's 486 calories vs. 780 calories (not to mention 30 grams of fat versus 48 grams of fat.) It may not sound like much in that single meal, but it's a whole different ball game when you start adding it up over a week or two. Read more...
Ryan Murphy's first Netflix original series, The Politician, stars Ben Platt as a hyper-ambitious high school student determined to become president of his school (and later, the United States) — but the base premise of this show doesn't come anywhere close to explaining how wonderfully bonkers it looks.
Going by the trailer alone, there will be attempted assassinations, screaming matches, sabotage, period drama costume parties, and a Jessica Lange performance for the ages.
The Politician premieres on Netflix September 27th. Read more...
The accusations are just the beginning. In the full trailer for The Morning Show, beloved TV host Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) is fired over mysterious allegations which sends both his world and co-host Alex Levy's (Jennifer Aniston) into free fall. Meanwhile, a new reporter (Reese Witherspoon) is lurking in the background talking about trust and truth.
Co-starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Duplass, Billy Crudup, Nestor Carbonell, and more, the series follows Alex's job crisis as much as Mitch's emotional spiral, and the TV show at the center that both controls the strings and has lost any grip on them. Read more...
Welcome toSummer Cooldown, our weeklong tribute to all things cool in pop culture. Through our role models of chill and our misguided attempts to emulate them, to the DGAF heroes so defiantly uncool they’re ice cold, we’ll attempt to define the undefinable and celebrate the characters and questions that shaped us.
Being cool ain't what it used to be. Just ask Tony Stark.
There's never been an easy definition for "cool," really. For most of us, we know it when we see it. Cool is the Ocean's Eleven gang, or Morpheus from The Matrix, or any of the various versions of James Bond. Going further back, it's Clint Eastwood and the so-called "King of Cool" himself, Steve McQueen. Read more...
Going to the cinema is great fun, but it's an expensive indulgence — especially nowadays when the cost of necessary snacks can really add up. We know, you don't need to stock up on loads of treats, but if you're not buying the biggest available box of popcorn then you're not doing it right.
Even though the cinema can be pricey, we keep going back. That's mainly down to the visuals, which are hard to beat. Luckily, you can achieve something pretty similar in the comfort of your own home, and you wouldn't have to fork out big sums for all that popcorn. Read more...
Huawei's Mate X — the company's first foldable smartphone — has been delayed again and won't be coming in September (in fact, a recent report pegged the launch date to November).
But according to a report from Neowin, when the Mate X actually does come out, it'll be a significantly different device than the one originally announced.
For one, Neowin claims, Huawei plans to upgrade the Mate X with a yet-to-be-announced processor, the Huawei Kirin 990. Furthermore, the Mate X will have cameras similar to the ones in the Huawei P30 Pro, which produces amazingly good photos for a smartphone, especially in low-light conditions. Read more...
TL;DR: The wireless Samsung Galaxy Buds are on sale for £106.95 on Amazon, saving you 23% on list price.
Some headphones are great for the commute, and others are perfect for the gym, but what if you want a set that can adapt to both situations? When it comes to versatility, it's hard to look past Samsung's Galaxy Buds.
With a wireless design, you can take your audio with you wherever you go, from podcasts on your commute to playlists in the gym. You can also sync the Galaxy Buds to your smartphone, smartwatch, and tablet, to enjoy clear and detailed sound on multiple platforms.
TL;DR: The rechargeable Ring Video Doorbell 2 on sale for £139 on Amazon, saving you 22% on list price.
There is nothing more frustrating in life than waiting all week for a delivery, and then missing it. You may think differently, but no. This is the most frustrating experience known to modern humans (don't @ us).
This horrible experience can be avoided, with the help of the Ring Video Doorbell 2. You can watch over your home and answer the door from your phone, tablet, and PC. Ring sends you alerts when anyone comes to your door, so you can interact with visitors from anywhere.
Crucially, this means you can hear and speak to whoever is delivering your order from your mobile device, using the built-in microphone and speakers with noise cancellation. Thereby avoiding the most maddening situation a human can experience. Read more...
Gillian Anderson has written an impassioned op-ed for the Guardian urging governments to set aside "geopolitical differences and commercial gain" and act in the interests of future generations to protect our oceans.
Anderson — who stars in Netflix's Sex Education — wrote that the UK government should "step up and show global leadership" when negotiating the first draft text of a global ocean treaty at the U.N. in New York.
"Our oceans and the life they sustain are under mounting pressure from multiple threats, including overfishing, climate breakdown, oil drilling and plastic pollution. Quite simply, they are in crisis," she wrote. Read more...
Welcome toSummer Cooldown, our weeklong tribute to all things cool in pop culture. Through our role models of chill and our misguided attempts to emulate them, to the DGAF heroes so defiantly uncool they’re ice cold, we’ll attempt to define the undefinable and celebrate the characters and questions that shaped us.
When The O.C. premiered in 2003, Ben McKenzie's Ryan Atwood was the very picture of classic cool. A brooding bad boy with a heart of gold, he had the leather jacket, the tight white tank top, and the mean right hook. Guys begrudgingly admired him, girls openly swooned after him, and it all made perfect sense in the familiar logic of teen dramas. Read more...
And it looks like a giant hand sculpture that got airlifted onto the roof of a gallery in Wellington, New Zealand on Sunday is about to go the same way.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No—Quasi has landed! This morning, Ronnie van Hout’s Quasi was installed on our roof. Quasi is a joint project with Wellington Sculpture Trust, with support from Wellington City Council, Wellington Community Trust, and Richard Burrellpic.twitter.com/9MaHc9gB71
4K TV deals are a thing of beauty, but are continuously changing. This can make it difficult to find the best deal.
We have tracked down the best 4K TV deals in the UK, to ensure you save big on your next model. There's loads of great deals up for grabs, including discounts on top brands like LG, Philips, Sony, Hisense, and more.
Hisense continues to offer great prices on its range of 4K TVs, including the 43-Inch 4K UHD HDR Smart TV for under £300, and the 50-inch model for only £449. These deals are hard to beat. Read more...
Back to school is not all bad when it means you can take advantage of retailers using this as an excuse to discount products. For example, Amazon is offering off to college deals, such as the Amazon Fire HD 10 32GB tablet is going for $99.99, or the Echo Dot is only $29.99.
Get the Instant Pot Max 6-quart pressure cooker to help you prepare meals to save time so you can do more studying or relax after a long day, instead of spending hours to prepare a meal.
It's the start of a new week, and that means another round of the best deals from across the UK. We're bringing you all the very best offers on a wide selection of products, with loads of great opportunities to save.
To start the week, we've focused on the biggest of items. We have lined up deals on 4K TVs and laptops from massive brands like Samsung, Sony Bravia, ASUS, HP, and more. We have also handpicked a small selection of the best deals on everything else, including smart bulbs, electric toothbrushes, beard trimmers, and more.
These are the best deals from across the internet for Aug. 19. Read more...
Facebook's Libra hasn't even properly launched yet (and it won't for many more months), and competitors are already cropping up.
Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, has announced Project Venus, an initiative to create localized stablecoins — cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to that of an asset such as gold or the U.S. dollar — all across the globe.
Like Facebook's Libra, Venus is an open blockchain project, and Binance is seeking partners among governments and corporations to create stablecoins that will "empower developed and developing countries to spur new currencies." Read more...
Most people will have had at least one bad experience at the doctor's.
But as John Oliver points out in the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, you're much more likely to have had a bad experience if you're a woman or a person of colour.
"I'm not saying that all doctors are racist or sexist because they obviously aren't," he says. "But people have biases, and doctors are people. And they may have come up in a system that intentionally, or not, has often discounted the experiences of a major portion of the population." Read more...
The 1939 Porsche Type 64 was expected to auction for at least $20 million at Monterey Car Week in California over the weekend, but a confusing start with the auctioneer and excitement in the room meant the bidding process on the rare vehicle was more than bungled.
A starting bid of $13 million was heard as $30 million and from there all the wires were crossedJalopnik shared a video of the auction for the vintage vehicle showing how that initial mistake amidst the din was projected onto the screen as $30 million. Then $40 million. Then $50 million, $60 million, and eventually $70 million — before surprisingly dropping to $17 million. It was never $30 million and it most certainly never was bidding up to $70 million. Read more...
In a drone vs. ambulance showdown, first aid supplies get to patients faster when flown rather than driven through surface streets, sirens wailing.
That's what researchers from Iraq and Australia found during test scenarios with a DJI Phantom 3 Professional remote-controlled drone pitted against a human-driven ambulance vehicle in a busy Iraqi city.
In four tests, the drone raced an ambulance from a hospital in Erbil, Iraq, to crowded neighborhoods near schools and markets with narrow streets. Each delivery method was timed to see how long it took to get the first aid kit to "patients."
The results from the team — comprised of people from Middle Technical University in Baghdad, University of Mosul, University of South Australia, and the Defence Science and Technology Group — were published in July in the Sensorsjournal. The findings made it clear that drone transport reduces delivery time and gets there quicker. Read more...
A year in the life of Starman lasts about 557 of our Earth days.
The Tesla Roadster that SpaceX sent into outer space in Feb. 2018 has now completed one full orbit around the sun. The distance "driven" amounts to roughly 762 million miles which, according to Where Is Roadster?, means the car's 36,000 mile warranty has been exceeded more than 21,000 times.
Good luck getting that thing serviced, Starman.
It's been quite a journey for the spacesuit-clad dummy who should still be positioned at the wheel of the spacefaring Roadster. He ended up there initially as part of a test launch for the Falcon Heavy, a reusable SpaceX rocket that's designed to carry heavy payloads beyond Earth's atmosphere. Read more...
That's nice advice and all, but you've got bills to pay and tons of other responsibilities. So when another online contest pops up asking you to create an online video for a chance to earn big money and do something fantastic (become a "bacon intern" or "chief taco officer") it's easy to pass over.
But this one seems different. Instead of a prescribed "dream" opportunity to travel the world, taste the wines of Croatia, or live smartphone-free, you get to set the terms of your dream. Outdoor clothing brand Prana opened the "The Day Job to Dream Job" contest this week, offering $100,000 for the next year to do whatever you want. You don't have to post about hotels, eat bacon in every state, or push tacos — unless you want to, of course. Read more...
Now that the HBO series is over, George R.R. Martin is feeling good about the future of A Song of Ice and Fire.
The books that provided the narrative foundation for HBO's Game of Thrones is still an ongoing and not-yet-finished series. In a new interview with The Observer, Martin admitted that he had a hard time working on his own vision of Westeros while the HBO take played out.
There's apparently a good reason he only published one book during the show's eight season run, all the way back in 2011 (just a few months after HBO's premiere): it wasn't a great time for him.
"I don’t think [the TV series] was very good for me," Martin said, in a frank admission. "The very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down. Every da]y I sat down to write and even if I had a good day … I’d feel terrible because I’d be thinking: ‘My God, I have to finish the book. I’ve only written four pages when I should have written 40.'" Read more...
Most of you probably think mattresses are inanimate objects, forever lying stationary until some living creature, typically a human, picks one up and moves it. You'll all think differently after seeing this video.
The video, shot in Colorado on Aug. 17, claims that this mass mattress migration is an accident. "We were hanging out by the pool and apparently they were setting up for 'movie night under the stars' with pillows and mattresses and then a storm rolled in."
Maybe that's true. Or maybe someone set these mattresses up, knowing the looming storm would bring about this dramatic scene. Whatever the truth really is, this shit is hilarious. Read more...
Marvel Comics wants to steer clear of politics. Even in the introduction to an anthology spanning the period of time during and immediately after World War II.
Marvel: The Golden Age 1939-1949 was originally supposed to include an intro penned by Art Spiegelman, the famed graphic novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on Maus — a personal story about the Holocaust, featuring a cast of cartoon animals. But now Spiegelman claims that the essay he wrote, which refers to Donald Trump as the "Orange Skull" — a reference to Captain America's Nazi nemesis, Red Skull — didn't fly with Marvel. Read more...
Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen shut down Trump's notion to buy the autonomous Danish territory, saying "the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over."
Is your dog peacefully sleeping or is she freaking out? Did your package really get delivered? Find out for yourself with this handy smart security camera with two-way audio, voice control and night vision.
Until you snap the tail off, a glass Prince Rupert's Drop is basically invincible. Which means you need a whole lot of pressure from the hydraulic press to destroy one.
Depop is a sales platform for the secondhand, an impossibly enormous international flea market in app form. If eBay is a bazaar and Instagram is a beauty pageant, Depop is both.
On invite-only Facebook pages, people gamble real money on the prospect of winning impossible-to-score goods — like an Iberian octopus and A5 Wagyu beef
Many of the events that now trigger FEMA aid are becoming routine, raising concerns within the agency that it will be unable to respond to the growing number of large catastrophes if it continues to waste its resources on small ones.
Get a dentist-approved clean anywhere with this Aquasonic PRO Toothbrush with 6 ProFlex Brush Heads, Wireless Charging Glass & Case: it includes an ultrasonic toothbrush, travel case, wireless charging glass and six adaptive brush heads for glowing teeth anywhere.
Not only are these wool shoes comfortable, they're surprisingly attractive too. Better yet, they're designed to stand up to all-day wear without working up a funk thanks to the anti-bac-treated fabric.
Comedian and host Michael Torpey agrees, the premise is pretty bleak. But while he's helping smart folks pay off their student loans one at a time, he's also advocating for representatives take action to relieve student debt nationwide.
Over at Moosejaw, you can save big on a wide selection of seasonal items during their fall sale. Jackets, camping accessories, running shoes and more are available at a discounted rate.
Why Portland? The city presents a unique mix of past and present white nationalism; policing that enables the far right; weak political leaders; and a legacy of antifascist organizing.
We asked six eminent songwriters — including a few who have scored movies, and others who have been the subject of movies — to each pick their five favorite music films.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have come up with what could be a possible replacement: a rechargeable iron ion battery that uses mild steel as the anode.
Early last year, a sinister Russian website created by a group known only as 'Saw' emerged online. The website aimed to incite violence by publishing a detailed "kill list," which featured the names, addresses and photographs of prominent LGBTQ activists.
Paladin Press was both a test-case for the First Amendment and the research material for some of the most cold-hearted killers the country has ever seen.
When Maria Isabel Contreras and her husband moved to Mexico City's Iztapalapa district, 30 years ago, water was not an issue. But as the district urbanized, the taps began to dry up. Today, the nine-person household — four adults and five children — receives three hours of continuous supply of murky, brown water each day, before the water runs out.
Species are going extinct and the climate is warming rapidly — yet at least materially, humans are doing better than ever. Welcome to the environmentalist's paradox.
Astronomers have observed a supernova unlike any ever observed before, and it might be strong evidence of an important kind of stellar death that would have shaped early galaxies.
Spiegelman claims that Marvel Comics rejected his essay because the publisher — chaired by Trump follower Ike Perlmutter —was trying to remain apolitical.
For years, American smokers have been spared the unpleasant images of gangrene infected feet, swollen tongues overtaken by cancerous tumors and blackened lungs that are often plastered onto packs of cigarettes sold around the world. But that momentary reprieve before lighting up may only last a few more years.
Want a laptop that can handle your workload without doing too much harm to your bank balance? These laptops are an excellent balance between price and performance.
It was meant to be an unabashed celebration of the triumph of Communism in China and of President Xi Jinping's authority, but as the People's Republic approaches its 70th anniversary, Xi finds himself battling multiple threats https://t.co/uPxdQgBgCapic.twitter.com/mXkZ23K1jl
I have signed the legislation setting in stone the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972. This is a landmark moment in taking back control of our law. It underlines that we are leaving the EU on October 31. pic.twitter.com/r52UY60aG2
Tourists walk through Guangdong's highest circular sky corridor, located in Qingyuan's Huangteng Gorge 500 meters above the ground pic.twitter.com/lfGfeyTPGZ
A biker does a burnout on his motorcycle during a car and motorbike show outside the closed Hall of Shaab Stadium in Baghdad, Iraq August 16, 2019. Members of rival Iraqi biker gangs, clad in studded leather and black berets, burst out of their semi-circles to break dance, their tattoo-covered arms waving neon glowsticks. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
A Russian T-72B3 main battle tank reached a speed of 84 kph (52.1 mph) during a tank biathlon event outside the capital. It's an all-time record for the competition – and an impressive feat for a 64-ton armored behemoth.
The record speed was achieved in the mud of a rain-soaked tank range, rather than on an asphalt-coated race circuit. For comparison, the maximum speed of the US main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, stands at 72.4 kph (45 mph) on roads, though even faster machines exist – including Russia's next gen MBT Armata.
The most secure means of passing messages is also one of the oldest.
The U.S. Navy, anticipating a future when a high-tech enemy could read its electronic communications, is going back to a hack-proof means of sending messages between ships: bean bags. Weighted bags with messages inside are passed among ships at sea by helicopters.
In a future conflict with a tech-savvy opponent, the U.S. military could discover even its most advanced, secure communications penetrated by the enemy. Secure digital messaging, voice communications, video conferencing, and even chats could be intercepted and decrypted for its intelligence value. This could give enemy forces an unimaginable advantage, seemingly predicting the moves and actions of the fleets at sea with uncanny accuracy.
Read more .... WNU Editor: This method may be slow, but it definitely cannot be intercepted.
PLA concepts and capabilities also include military and para-military forces that operate below the threshold of war, such as increased presence in contested waters of fishing fleets and supporting maritime militia and navy vessels. These operations might spark conflict when an opposing claimant such as the Philippines, Vietnam, or Japan responds.
Americans are slowly but undeniably facing a new reality in global great power relations that will define the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy for the foreseeable future. The 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy and 2018 National Defense Strategy mark an acknowledgment by not only the current administration but also a broad, bipartisan swath of government and private sector entities that China's increasing swagger as it emerges on the world stage warrants a more confrontational approach toward the country.
A strong dollar can hurt earnings, commodities and developing economies.
A prolonged dollar rally is pressuring U.S. corporate earnings, hitting commodity prices and threatening to deepen a selloff in emerging markets.
The U.S. currency has continued to grind higher this year despite an escalating trade fight with China and broadsides from President Trump, who has complained that the dollar's strength is curbing growth. Last month, the greenback rose even after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in a decade, defying expectations that lower rates would cut the appeal of U.S. assets to yield-seeking investors.
WNU Editor: With major countries now pursuing a negative interest policy .... Why Negative Interest Rates Will Devastate The World Economy. Coupled with no real good places to invest your money. The U.S. dollar is a definite attraction. My prediction. Expect U.S. interest rates to go down further.
The expectation that Trump will win could affect how allies and adversaries approach negotiations with the U.S.
Foreign diplomats are still feeling burned after assuming Donald Trump would lose in 2016 — and they don't want to be fooled again.
So many of them are quietly preparing for and predicting a Trump victory in 2020. Some are even trying to game out who will be on the president's team in a second term. The belief that Trump will win reelection — gleaned from conversations with around 20 foreign diplomats, international officials and analysts who deal with them — appears widespread.
WNU Editor: Among all of my foreign diplomat contacts, with the exception of the Russian diplomats, everyone is hoping that President Trump will be defeated in 2020. But when I asked on who do they expect to win. Everyone of these same contacts expect President Trump to win in 2020. The reasons given .... he's the incumbent, the U.S. economy is strong, and the Democrats have not selected a candidate to challenge him.
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia's oil fields, responsible for almost a 10th of global crude production, are in the firing line. Recently, they've been targeted by air, sea and land.
Flaring tensions in the Persian Gulf have seen some of the the world's biggest crude deposits, along with processing and transport infrastructure and vessels, targeted by explosives-laden drones and bombings.
The threats to the kingdom's crude production and infrastructure shine a light on the risk to global oil supply given that state-owned Saudi Aramco is the world's largest exporter. Saudi Arabia's more than 100 crude deposits contain some 257 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, the world's biggest conventional finds.
The inversion of the bond yield curve last week is not a good omen for the oil market.
Roman soothsayers would look for omens in the flight of eagles or the entrails of sacrificed animals, before advising whether to fight a battle. The inversion of the bond yield curve on Wednesday, often a harbinger of recession, is clearly not a good omen for the oil market. But should the oil exporters step up their campaign to protect prices, or retreat?
The yield-curve inversion, where short-term bond yields exceed long-term ones, has predicted US recessions since 1956, but the recessions themselves have followed between three and eleven months later. Some analysts downplay this warning because of special circumstances – worldwide central bank rate cuts, a secular fall in inflation and population growth – but there are always special circumstances.
The acting chief of Ukraine's SBU security service, Ivan Bakanov, who previously headed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's entertainment studio, Kvartal 95, and his presidential campaign.
KYIV -- When Ukraine's domestic security service revealed last year that it had faked the death of a dissident Russian journalist to expose a team of hit men allegedly hired by Moscow to destabilize the country by assassinating high-profile figures in Kyiv, it expected to take victory lap.
Instead, the stunt sparked widespread criticism and turned into a public-relations nightmare --- one of many in the past 28 years that have tarnished the reputation of the Security Service of Ukraine.
A year later, fresh off huge election victories that brought him and his fledgling Servant of the People party to power, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy -- a former comedian who has vowed to end endemic corruption and implement sweeping reforms – may have a chance to do what none of his predecessors was able to do: revamp the agency and restore its credibility.
WNU Editor: Ukraine's SBU is like Russia's FSB (formerly the KGB) .... probably the most powerful institution in the country. Reforming it is one of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's priorities, but it is not going to be easy. The above RFE post provides a good analysis on why this will be the case.
The Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle will augment manned warships, providing extra sensors or firepower.
The U.S. Navy is calling on industry to present ideas for its Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (LUSV) ship. The Navy wants ten LUSV ships in five years. The ships would function as scouts for the main battle fleet, carrying sophisticated radar and sonars or floating magazines packing extra anti-air and cruise missiles.
Above all, the ships will do what proponents call the "3D work": dull, dirty, and dangerous work.
Research group Forensic Architecture collected images to use in ECHR case
Newly collated evidence documenting Russian military involvement in the conflict in Ukraine will be used to bolster legal claims against the Russian state by Ukrainian volunteer fighters.
Forensic Architecture, a London-based research group, has collected and catalogued evidence of Russian military involvement in the battle of Ilovaysk in August 2014, including the presence of a model of tank used only by the Russian armed forces at that time.
The evidence will be appended to a case to be ruled on by the European court of human rights (ECHR) and has been released on a publicly viewable online platform.
WNU Editor: I find it interesting that Forensic Architecture used an AI platform to sift through the footage to present this new evidence. In the meantime the groundwork for peace talks continue .... Macron seeks Ukraine progress from Putin in rare pre-G7 talks (France 24).
* A secret Whitehall dossier outlines possible pandemonium in a No Deal Brexit * Operation Yellowhammer casts a dark shadow over proposed October 31 exit * Hard border in Ireland, fuel, medicine and food shortages are anticipated * News comes as Boris Johnson prepares to meet EU leaders at the G7 this week * Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng said fears around no deal was 'scaremongering' * MP Iain Duncan Smith said the leak of documents was designed to 'sow fear' * Brexiteer Nigel Farage said the document was so extreme it was not believable
Business and energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng has dismissed concerns over potential fuel, food and medicine shortages in the event of a no deal Brexit as 'scaremongering'.
It comes after a secret dossier filed by the Cabinet Office, called Operation Yellowhammer, exposed the areas that could be most vulnerable if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31.
The explosive revelations marked 'official-sensitive' include the expectation of a return of a hard border in Ireland due to the inability to roll-out the government's proposed limited checks, and shortages of fuel, medicine and food.
Refugees who return to Syria for holidays might lose their refugee status in Germany, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild newspaper. Some newcomers simultaneously claim to be fleeing persecution there.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a tough response to Syrian refugees who leave Germany for holidays in their home country.
"If somebody, a Syrian refugee, regularly takes holidays in Syria, he cannot honestly claim to be persecuted in Syria," Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag weekly.
"We would have to strip him of his refugee status," he added.
WNU editor: The German Interior Minister does not provide any numbers, but I suspect that the numbers are small. And of those who have gone to Syria, I suspect that it is because of personal reasons and not because they want to take a vacation.
Chinese counter-protesters wave the Chinese flag as members of the US Hong Kong community protest against what they say is police brutality during the ongoing Hong Kong protests in Santa Monica, California on Aug 17, 2019.PHOTO: AFP
* Protests have been taking place in Hong Kong against growing Chinese encroachment on the territory * Pro-democracy campaigners marched on Whitehall, waving posters slamming Chinese police brutality * They flew banners lashing out at the heavy-handed riot police who have fired pepper spray at dissidents
Escalating tension in Hong Kong was brought to the streets of London today when a demonstration showing solidarity with pro-democracy protesters clashed with supporters who stand behind the heavy-handed show of force from the Beijing-backed government.
A thousand activists marched on Trafalgar Square this afternoon to rally behind those in the former British colony who are rising up in anger over increasing Chinese encroachment on the territory's autonomy.
But they were met by a fierce counter-protest of pro-Beijing demonstrators who hollered at them and threw up banners branding them 'traitors'.
Pro-democracy campaigners paraded down Whitehall, past Downing Street, waving posters slamming Hong Kong police brutality.
WNU Editor: I know that questions are being raised in Canada that China may be directly involved in organizing and promoting these counter-demonstrations.
More News On Pro-Beijing Supporters Clash With Pro-Democracy Hong Kong Supporters
Chinese servicemen attend a crowd control exercise at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen across the bay from Hong Kong. One of the soldiers is carrying a huge fork, which may also be electric, to be used in crowd control
Armed troops are barracked in a stadium in Shenzen, where citizens seem to back them
There was an uneasy sense of calm on Sunday in Shenzhen, the Chinese city on the other side of the bay from Hong Kong where hundreds of troops from the People's Armed Police [PAP] have been deployed in a show of force that the government in Beijing has called an anti-terrorism manoeuvre.
The troops, some of whom could be seen milling around the Shenzen Bay sports stadium where they are currently barracked, await word on whether they will be ordered to cross and quell what has been a mix of violent anti-government unrest and peaceful protest over the past 11 weeks in the former British colony.
* Protesters took to Hong Kong's streets today for another weekend of mass pro-democracy demonstrations * Organisers said at least 1.7million people turned out for the rally at Victoria Park - despite the rainy weather * However, police have not yet released their crowd estimates, which are generally much lower
Hong Kong protesters have displayed their biggest show of force yet in a mammoth demonstration which saw nearly two million defy the Beijing-backed government and rally against growing Chinese encroachment.
A stream of umbrellas snaked through the city streets as the pro-democracy activists marched from Victoria Park, despite the police banning the demonstration from leaving the confines of the square.
Escalating tensions in the former British colony boiled over earlier this week as authorities clashed with protesters in the territory's airport.
But - in the face of increasing anger over excessive police violence and Chinese threats - the rally concluded peacefully and without reports of any flare-ups.
* The report by Australia-based researchers urged US allies such as Australia and Japan to overhaul military investment to prevent American military might from being undermined in the region * The report also detailed the prowess of the PLA Rocket Force, which is capable of making precision strikes as far from the mainland as Singapore
If an armed conflict broke out between Beijing and Washington, China's hi-tech ballistic missiles would likely cripple the United States' military bases and naval fleet across the Western Pacific region within hours, a new report by Australia-based researchers has said.
With China making rapid technological advancements and sharpening its hard power, the report urged the US and regional allies such as Australia and Japan to overhaul military investment and deployment plans, or face the prospect of American "military primacy" being undermined by the Asian power.
The 104-page report by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney assessed US military strategy, spending and alliances in the region.
BEIJING — Top military leaders from North Korea and China have recommitted themselves to strengthened exchanges between their armed forces during a meeting in Beijing.
The meeting Saturday came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of an unspecified new weapon, seen as an attempt to pressure Washington and Seoul over nuclear negotiations and joint military exercises.
The official Xinhua News agency says Zhang Youxia, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, met Kim Su Kil, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army.
WNU Editor: When China is faced with numerous problems .... presently it is Hong Kong, South China sea disputes, trade war, etc. .... they always go to their closest allies (like North Korea) and have this show.
Al-Manar TV airs video it says shows preparations for deadly attack on INS Hanit during Second Lebanon War, an event which became a symbol of Israel's overconfidence
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV on Thursday night for the first time aired footage it said came from a missile strike on an Israeli Navy ship during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
In a documentary aired to commemorate 13 years since the war, the TV station said it was revealing new details about the strike on the INS Hanit that killed four Israeli soldiers — one of the most significant, and in Israel, infamous, events of the 34-day conflict.
Read more .... WNU Editor: It is hard to see anything in this video
More News On Hezbollah Airing A Video It Says Shows Preparations For Deadly Attack On An Israeli Warship During The 2006 Second Lebanon War
Forces with Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security escort an alleged militant as Taliban and Islamic State fighters are presented to the media in Jalalabad in May 2019 (AFP Photo/NOORULLAH SHIRZADA)
As the U.S. and the Taliban are on the brink of securing a peace deal that would remove U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan, a new report cautions that Afghan warlords are readying for a potential civil war.
According to analysis from the Institute for the Study of War, ethnic groups in Afghanistan including Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras are preparing for a possible civil war once U.S. and NATO forces depart Afghanistan — similar to the civil war that ensued after the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989.
"Afghanistan is dangerously poised for a new Afghan Civil War reminiscent of the instability that followed the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in the 1990s," Afghanistan research assistant Scott DesMarais wrote in the analysis published Aug. 15.
The Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate claims responsibility for Kabul's deadliest attack this year, a suicide bombing at a wedding hall that killed at least 63 people and wounded nearly 200. https://t.co/zMZMzNFuC6
#UPDATE Gibraltar's government said it could not seek a court order to detain the ship, as it prepared to leave the territory, because US sanctions against Iran were not applicable in the European Union pic.twitter.com/n3ibTWmHZa
Police fire tear gas at anti-extradition bill protesters during clashes in Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong, China, August 14, 2019. Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into turmoil, and presented the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that has enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
WNU Editor: The above picture came from this photo-gallery .... Hong Kong in turmoil (Reuters)
It has been a thesis over 20 years in the making, but with every passing day, SocGen's Albert Edwards - who first coined the term "Ice Age" to describe the state of the world in which every debt issue ends up with a negative yield as capital markets and economies collapse into a deflationary singularity - is that much closer to having the victory lap of a lifetime. Although, we doubt he is happy about it.
Commenting on the interest rate collapse he has been (correctly) predicting ever since he first observed Japan's great bubble bust of the 1980s and which resulted in both NIRP and QE, and which he (correctly) expected would spread across the rest of the world, leading to a "Japanification" of every major bond market.
(ISLAMABAD) — Pakistan said Indian troops have fired across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, killing two civilians and wounding another.
Pakistan and Indian often exchange fire in the Himalayan region, but tensions have increased since Aug. 5 when New Delhi changed the status of Indian-administered Kashmir, which is split between the nuclear-armed and claimed by both.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement Monday that civilian casualties occurred Sunday because of “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by India in the border villages of Hot Spring and Chirikot.
The ministry said Pakistan summoned an Indian diplomat and lodged a protest over continued ceasefire violations, which “are a threat to regional peace.”
Pakistan and India have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.
India has imposed a security lockdown in its portion of Kashmir to avoid violence in reaction to the move to change the territory’s status.
The government has said it was gradually restoring phone lines and easing the lockdown, but changes were slow. Public buses were running in rural areas, but soldiers limited the movement of people on mostly deserted streets in Srinagar, the region’s main city.
The Press Trust of India reported that restrictions were reimposed in parts of Srinagar after violence was reported on Saturday.
About 300 Kashmiris returned to Srinagar on Sunday from a Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Many of them became emotional while reuniting with their family members who met them at the city’s airport. Due to the security and communications lockdown, many travelers were unable to contact anybody in the Kashmir region.
“Neither us nor our relatives here knew if we were dead or alive,” Muhammad Ali said after returning from Mecca.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Afghanistan’s president on Monday vowed to “eliminate” all safe havens of the Islamic State group as the country marked a subdued 100th Independence Day after a horrific wedding attack claimed by the local IS affiliate.
President Ashraf Ghani’s comments came as Afghanistan mourns at least 63 people, including children, killed in the Kabul bombing at a wedding hall late Saturday night. Close to 200 others were wounded.
Many outraged Afghans ask whether an approaching deal between the United States and the Taliban to end nearly 18 years of fighting — America’s longest war — will bring peace to long-suffering civilians. The bomber detonated his explosives in the middle of a dancing crowd, and the IS affiliate later said he had targeted a gathering of minority Shiites, whom it views as apostates deserving of death.
Both the bride and groom survived, and in an emotional interview with local broadcaster TOLOnews the distraught groom, Mirwais Alani, said their lives were devastated within seconds.
A sharply worded Taliban statement questioned why the U.S. failed to identify the attackers in advance. Another Taliban statement marking the independence day said to “leave Afghanistan to the Afghans.” More than anything in its nearly year-long negotiations with the U.S., the Taliban want some 20,000 U.S. and allied forces to withdraw from the country.
The U.S. envoy in talks with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Sunday said the peace process should be accelerated to help Afghanistan defeat the IS affiliate.
But Ghani on Monday asserted that the Taliban, whom the U.S. now hopes will help to curb the IS affiliate’s rise, are just as much to blame. His government is openly frustrated at being sidelined from the U.S. talks with the insurgent group, which regards the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet.
The Taliban “have created the platform for terrorists” with its own brutal assaults on schools, mosques and other public places over the years, the president said.
More than 32,000 civilians in Afghanistan have been killed in the past decade, the United Nations said earlier this year. More children were killed last year — 927 — than in any other over the past decade by all actors, the U.N. said, including in operations against insurgent hideouts carried out international forces.
“We will take revenge for every civilian drop of blood,” Ghani declared. “Our struggle will continue against (IS), we will take revenge and will root them out.” He urged the international community to join those efforts.
He asserted that safe havens for militants are across the border in Pakistan, whose intelligence service has long been accused of supporting the Taliban. The IS affiliate’s claim of the wedding attack said it was carried out by a Pakistani fighter seeking martyrdom.
Ghani called on people in Pakistan “who very much want peace” to help identify the IS safe havens there.
Last month after meeting with President Donald Trump, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted he will do his best to persuade the Taliban to open negotiations with the Afghan government to resolve the war.
Trump on Sunday told reporters he doesn’t want Afghanistan to be a “laboratory for terror.” He was briefed on Friday on the progress of the U.S.-Taliban talks, of which few details have emerged.
In a message marking Afghanistan’s independence and “century of resilience,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the weekend wedding bombing “an attack against humanity.” It was one of many international expressions of condemnation pouring in following the attack.
(LONDON) — Secret British government documents have warned of serious disruptions across the country in the event that the U.K. leaves the European Union without a trade deal on Oct. 31, according to a report.
The Sunday Times newspaper published what it said was what the British government expects in the case of a sudden, “no-deal” Brexit. Among the most serious: “significant” disruptions to the supply of drugs and medicine, a decrease in the availability of fresh food and even potential fresh water shortages due to possible interruptions of imported water treatment chemicals.
Although the grim scenarios reportedly outlined in the government documents have long been floated by academics and economists, they’ve been repeatedly dismissed as scaremongering by Brexit proponents.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is ready to leave the EU regardless of whether he is able to renegotiate the Brexit deal struck with Brussels by his predecessor, Theresa May.
His own officials, however, have warned that with a no-deal Brexit, the sharing of law enforcement data and the health of Britain’s crucial financial services industry could be in jeopardy after Oct. 31.
The documents published by the Times also quote officials as warning that up to 85% of all trucks wouldn’t be ready for French customs at the critical English Channel crossing that day, causing lines that could stretch out for days. Some 75% of all drugs coming into Britain arrive via that crossing, the memos warned, “making them particularly vulnerable to severe delays.”
The officials foresee “critical elements” of the food supply chain being affected that would “reduce availability and choice and increase the price, which will affect vulnerable groups.”
Britain’s Cabinet Office didn’t return a message seeking comment on the documents, but Michael Gove, the British minister in charge of no-deal preparations, insisted that the files represented a “worst case scenario.”
Very “significant steps have been taken in the last 3 weeks to accelerate Brexit planning,” he said in a message posted to Twitter.
But the documents, which are titled “planning assumptions,” mention a “base scenario,” not a “worst case” one. The Times quoted an unnamed Cabinet Office source as saying the memos were simply realistic assessments of what was most likely to happen.
The opposition Labour Party, which is trying to delay Brexit and organize a government of national unity, held up the report as another sign that no-deal must be avoided.
“It seems to me is what we’ve seen is a hard-headed assessment of reality, that sets out in really stark terms what a calamitous outcome of no-deal Brexit would mean for the United Kingdom,” lawmaker Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News television. “The government is reckless in the way it’s been pushing forward with no-deal planning in this way.”
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country is ready for Brexit, even without a deal to smooth the transition.
Merkel said Sunday during an open house at the chancellery in Berlin that she would “try everything in my power to find solutions” and that “I believe that it would be better to leave with an agreement than without one.”
But she added that “should it come to that we are prepared for this eventuality too.”
GIBRALTAR (AP) — An Iranian supertanker hauling $130 million worth of light crude oil that the U.S. suspects to be tied to a sanctioned organization lifted its anchor and begun moving away from Gibraltar late on Sunday.
The trail left by GPS data on Marinetraffic.com, a vessel tracking service, showed the Iran-flagged Adrian Darya 1, previously known as Grace 1, moving shortly before midnight. The tanker slowly went south before steering eastwards toward a narrow stretch of international waters separating Morocco and the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidinejad, confirmed in a post on Twitter that the oil tanker was headed to international waters. Questions to the embassy about where it was going were not immediately returned.
The vessel had been detained for a month in the British overseas territory for allegedly attempting to breach European Union sanctions on Syria. Gibraltar authorities rejected an eleventh-hour attempt by the United States’ to reseize the oil tanker on Sunday, arguing that EU regulations are less strict than U.S. sanctions on Iran.
The tanker’s release comes amid a growing confrontation between Iran and the West after President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago.
Shortly after the tanker’s detention in early July near Gibraltar — a British overseas territory — Iran seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which remains held by the Islamic republic. Analysts had said the Iranian ship’s release by Gibraltar could mean that the Stena Impero goes free.
Gibraltar’s government said Sunday it was allowing the Iranian tanker’s release because, “The EU sanctions regime against Iran – which is applicable in Gibraltar – is much narrower than that applicable in the US.”
In a last-ditch effort to stop the release, the U.S. unsealed a warrant Friday to seize the vessel and its cargo of 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil, citing violations of U.S. sanctions as well as money laundering and terrorism statutes.
U.S. officials told reporters that the oil aboard the ship was worth some $130 million and that it was destined for a designated terror organization.
The unsealed court documents argued that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are the ship’s true owners through a network of front companies.
Authorities in Gibraltar said Sunday that, unlike in the U.S., the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is not designated a terrorist organization under EU, U.K. or Gibraltar law.
The Iranian ship was detained while sailing under a Panamanian flag with the name Grace 1. As of Sunday, it had been renamed the Adrian Darya 1 and had hoisted an Iranian flag. Workers were seen painting the new name on the side of the ship Saturday.
Iran has not disclosed the Adrian Darya 1’s intended destination and has denied it was ever headed for Syria.
The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said he had been assured in writing by the Iranian government that the tanker wouldn’t unload its cargo in Syria.
The Astralship shipping agency in Gibraltar, which has been hired to handle paperwork and arrange logistics for the Adrian Darya 1, had told The Associated Press that a new crew of Indian and Ukrainian nationals had been expected to replace the sailors on board.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The U.S. has opened up secret communications with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as members of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face retribution if they cede to growing demands to remove him, a senior administration official has told The Associated Press.
Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the most-powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, met last month in Caracas with someone who is in close contact with the Trump administration, said the official. A second meeting is in the works but has not yet taken place.
The AP is withholding the intermediary’s name and details of the encounter with Cabello out of concern the person could suffer reprisals. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the talks, which are still preliminary.
Cabello is a major power broker inside Venezuela, who has seen his influence in the government and security forces expand as Maduro’s grip on power has weakened. But he’s also been accused by U.S. officials of being behind massive corruption, drug trafficking and even death threats against a sitting U.S. senator.
The administration official said that under no circumstances is the U.S. looking to prop up Cabello or pave the way for him to substitute Maduro. Instead, the goal of the outreach is to ratchet up pressure on the regime by contributing to the knife fight the U.S. believes is taking place behind the scenes among competing circles of power within the ruling party.
Similar contacts exist with other top Venezuelan insiders, the official said, and the U.S. is in a listening mode to hear what it would take for them to betray Maduro and support a transition plan.
Cabello did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But an aide said the U.S. has been increasingly knocking on his door, desperately looking to establish contact. The aide rejected the notion Cabello was somehow betraying Maduro, saying that Cabello would only meet with Americans with the president’s permission and if it contributes to lifting sanctions he blames for crippling the oil-dependent economy. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to discuss political affairs publicly.
A person familiar with the July encounter said Cabello appeared savvy and arrived to the meeting with the U.S.-backed envoy well prepared, with a clear understanding of Venezuela’s political problems. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter.
As Venezuela’s crisis grinds on, a predictable pattern has emerged where Juan Guaidó, who the U.S. and dozens of other countries recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader, has been unable to woo the military and take power but Maduro lacks enough strength to apprehend his rival or rescue the collapsed economy amid ever-tightening U.S. sanctions. This month, the U.S. slapped a new round of sanctions that seizes all of the Maduro government’s assets in the U.S. and threatens to punish companies from third countries that continue to do business with him.
Talks sponsored by Norway between the opposition and government have been slow-going and were suspended this month by Maduro, who accused Guaidó of celebrating the U.S.’ “brutal blockade.” Neither Cabello, the Venezuelan military or U.S. government are a party to those talks.
To break the stalemate, some conspirators are looking to the U.S. to devise a plan to protect government insiders who turn against Maduro from future prosecution. The U.S. has repeatedly said it would offer top socialists relief from sanctions if they take “concrete and meaningful actions” to end Maduro’s rule. In May, it quickly lifted sanctions against Maduro’s former spy chief, Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, after he defected during a failed military uprising.
As head of the constitutional assembly, Cabello has the power to remove Maduro, a position that could come in handy in any negotiated transition. But to date he’s run the institution, which the U.S. considers illegitimate, as a rubber-stamping foil to the opposition-controlled congress, showing no signs of possible deception.
It’s not clear who initiated the contact with Cabello. But the U.S. official said Cabello was talking behind the back of the embattled socialist despite his almost daily displays of loyalty and frequent harangues against President Donald Trump.
An opposition politician briefed on the outreach said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Interior Minister Néstor Reverol are among those in indirect contact with the Americans, underscoring the degree to which Maduro is surrounded by conspirators even after an opposition-led military uprising in April was easily quashed. The politician spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the talks. The AP was unable to verify the opposition politician’s account.
Cabello, 56, has long been seen as a rival to Maduro, someone who has more pragmatic economic views and is less ideologically aligned with communist Cuba. He sat to the right of Hugo Chávez when the late socialist designated Maduro, to his left, to be his successor in his last public appearance before dying of cancer in 2013.
By all accounts Cabello was not among the high-placed officials who were in on a plot to remove Maduro in April, when Guaidó and his mentor Leopoldo López appeared on a bridge in eastern Caracas surrounded by a small contingent of armed troops. Since the uprising’s failure, the retired army lieutenant has seen his influence in the government and security forces expand, with the appointment of a cousin to head the army and the placement of another ally atop the feared SEBIN intelligence police.
He also remains popular with the Chavista base, having crisscrossed the country the past five years with a much-watched program on state TV that is a vehicle for pounding the opposition and U.S.
“A fraternal salute, brother President,” Cabello said in the most-recent program, where Maduro called in as a special guest. “We have no secrets, no lies here. Every time we do something we will inform the people, so that with a clear conscience they can take informed decisions and fix positions.”
The U.S. has tried to negotiate with Cabello before. In 2015, Thomas Shannon, who was then counsellor to Secretary of State John Kerry, met with Cabello in Haiti to pave the way for legislative elections that the opposition won by a landslide.
But until now, the Trump administration has shown deep scorn for Cabello, hitting him with sanctions last year for allegedly organizing drug shipments and running a major graft network that embezzled state funds and invested the stolen proceeds in Florida real estate. The U.S. also believes he discussed a plot to kill Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who has called him “Venezuela’s Pablo Escobar.”
“Cabello is one of the worst of the worst inside of Venezuela,” said Fernando Cutz, a former senior national security adviser on Latin America to both President Barack Obama and Trump. “If the strategy is to try to negotiate with the mafia boss, he’s your guy. But that’s a strategy that carries some heavy risks.”
(MEXICO CITY) — Workers erected a wooden wall around Mexico City’s iconic Angel of Independence monument Saturday after feminists defaced it with graffiti during a raucous protest over a string of alleged rapes by police.
The disorder Friday night erupted as part of protests that arose this week over a perception that city officials were not adequately investigating the rape accusations. Both victims were teenagers. The demonstrations have become known as the “glitter protests” after marchers doused the city’s police chief in pink glitter.
Hundreds of city workers spent the wee hours of the morning pressure-cleaning and painting over graffiti.
The deputy director of artistic patrimony at the National Fine Arts Institute, Dolores Martínez, said at the base of the statue that officials were assessing the damage to the Angel and other points in the capital that protesters attacked.
At the same time, Martínez added, the fine arts institute “respects freedom of speech and offers support for actions to eradicate all forms of violence against women.”
Protesters wrote phrases like “They don’t take care of us” and “rape state” in lime green, purple and black spray paint across the base of the Angel monument, which commemorates Mexico’s independence from Spain and is often the site of celebrations by city residents.
The monument was slated for repairs at some point due to damages from the September 2017 earthquake; Martínez said that those restoration plans will be fast-tracked after the vandalism and to show “solidarity” with rape victims and feminists.
Demonstrators also painted the word “rapists” on the wall of a nearby police station and trashed a major bus station. A male television reporter was punched by another man while covering the protest.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman elected to head the city’s government, said via Twitter that the attorney general’s office of the metropolis will investigate and bring charges against those who attacked journalists, bystanders and public buildings.
The Associated Press witnessed some female protesters assail men during the Friday demonstration.
In a Friday statement, Sheinbaum accused the protesters of trying to provoke authorities into using force, saying “that’s what they’re looking for” and that “violence is not fought with violence.”
The mayor invited “those who legitimately fight for the defense of human rights and the eradication of violence to help generate a climate of peace.”
Protesters have called for Sheinbaum’s resignation, saying she cares more about public property than women’s safety. They have also criticized her choice of language, noting that words like “provocation” are sometimes deployed to blame rape victims for their own assaults.
Violence against women is a serious problem in Mexico.
Human Rights Watch says Mexican laws “do not adequately protect women and girls against domestic and sexual violence.” It said in a 2019 report that provisions in Mexican law, including those that make the severity of punishments for sexual offenses contingent upon the supposed chastity of the victim, “contradict international standards.”
Mexico City’s culture minister, José Alfonso Suárez del Real, expressed sadness over the vandalism at the Angel monument, saying it “belongs to the Mexican people, not to the state.”
The remains of 14 independence heroes rest within the monument, including those of a woman, Leona Vicario.
The monument on Reforma Avenue is a reunion point for protests as well as celebrations. Soccer fans regularly converge around the base to celebrate their teams’ wins, while young girls marking their 15th birthdays —known as quinceañeras — pose for photos on the monument’s base wearing outsized party dresses on weekends.
Spotting the graffiti as she passed in a stretch limo, a quinceañera celebrant in a powder blue taffeta dress gasped in horror. Another, in a voluminous burgundy gown, went ahead with her photo shoot on the grass lawn around the monument despite the wooden barricade in the background.
Art historian Mara Fragoso came to assess the damage to the Angel with conflicted feelings. She said she understands and shares the protesters’ rage over violence against women, but she feels monuments should not be violated.
The Angel in many ways is a monument to women, Fragoso said. In addition to the golden female figure of an angel at the top, stoic bronze female figures are stationed at the four corners of the base.
Below the bronze figures are the words: War, Peace, Law and Justice.
“We’re divided between the indignation that’s evident, but also the indignation over the vandalism,” Fragoso said. “Both things are valid.”
(OKJOKULL GLACIER, Iceland) — It was a funeral for ice.
With poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists and others bade goodbye to what once was a glacier.
Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurðsson pronounced the Okjokull glacier extinct about a decade ago. But on Sunday he brought a death certificate to the made-for-media memorial.
After about 100 people made a two-hour hike up a volcano, children installed a memorial plaque to the glacier, nicknamed “OK.”
This was Iceland’s first glacier to disappear. But Sigurdsson said all of the nation’s ice masses will be gone in 200 years.
Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir called the glacial loss a consequence of the climate crisis.
(NOME, Alaska) — A man discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from the Russian Navy on the shores of western Alaska.
Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref about 600 miles (966 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, KNOM-AM reported Tuesday.
“I was just gathering firewood,” Ivanoff said. “I just happened to stumble across the bottle, and I noticed it was a green bottle and had a cork top. Not really cork, it was a tight cap, and I could see inside the bottle there was a note.”
Ivanoff shared his discovery on Facebook where Russian speakers translated the message to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor dated 1969, officials said. The message included an address and a request for a response from the person who finds it.
Reporters from the state-owned Russian media network, Russia-1, tracked down the original writer, Capt. Anatoliy Botsanenko.
“It looks like my handwriting. For sure! East industry fishing fleet! E-I-F-F!” Botsanenko said.
The message was sent while he was aboard the Sulak, a ship whose construction he oversaw in 1966 and that he sailed on until 1970, Botsanenko said.
When shown pictures of the bottle and note, Botsanenko teared up in joy, officials said.
At one point in his career, he was the youngest captain in the Pacific at 33 years old, Botsanenko said.
Ivanoff was not sure if he would return a message, but considered writing his own letters with his children.
“But that’s something I could probably do with my kids in the future. Just send a message in a bottle out there and see where it goes,” Ivanoff said.
(PARIS) — Three riot police officers, a police commander, a police academy teacher — all are among eight French police officers who have killed themselves recently. That makes 64 so far this year — and the number just keeps on climbing.
Deaths by suicide for French police now outnumber deaths in the line of duty. The protectors need protecting, say police unions, which are demanding more help to stop the problem.
Those who choose to end their lives are from everywhere in France and of all ages, many with young children. The latest death came Wednesday in the Ardeche region in southeast France. Why they step across what one police union calls the “thin blue line” remains a question that French authorities have so far been unable to answer.
A parliamentary inquiry made public in July lists a multitude of reasons for the stress and despair among French police, including overwork since a series of terrorist attacks that started in January 2015 and the weekly, often extremely violent, anti-government protests since November by the yellow vest movement seeking more economic and social justice. It does not single out any one reason.
“Given the situation today, 2019 could be the worst in the last 30 years,” said Denis Jacob, head of the Alternative Police CFDT union.
A Senate report last year said the French police suicide rate was 36% higher than the rate for France’s general population, but also uncovered no single reason behind the suicides.
“We don’t have an understanding” of why, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner conceded in April as he announced yet another prevention plan, the third minister in a row to do so, underlining authorities’ failure to solve the public health problem.
Significantly, Castaner acknowledged that police suicides must not be considered “external to work,” and seen as only the result of personal problems. And National Police Director Eric Morvan broke a taboo, sending a letter to all officers encouraging them to talk “without fear of being judged” and saying discussing distress “is never a weakness.”
While psychological trauma, including encounters with violence, is a risk factor for suicide, there are 10-15 factors that can feed the “acute crisis” which leads to taking one’s own life, Catherine Pinson, a psychologist in charge of the police support service, told the Senate inquiry.
The “hypervigilance” of police in the face of potential terror attacks is a clear stress factor that keeps police in their “bubble” even at home, Amelie Puaux, a psychologist with the support service, told the French senators.
And the 2016 deadly attack on a police couple in front of their small child at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, dramatically impacted police officers fearful for their families, she said. Some moved, changed services or resigned to protect their loved ones.
Sebastian Roche, a research director at the National Center for Scientific research who specializes in comparing police systems, says there are simply no studies to understand the causes of the French suicides or impact studies to evaluate prevention measures, which he calls a “huge weakness” within the Interior Ministry.
He doesn’t believe that PTSD — with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — is at the root of the problem, noting the dip in police suicides in 2015 when deadly Islamic State attacks in France began in January and culminated in November with the Paris massacres that left 130 people dead.
“All of a sudden, their mission made sense,” he said by telephone. “The population judged them as useful.”
French citizens applauded police as heroes during that stretch in 2015. That image lost its shine over time, then collapsed, as French police matched exceptionally violent yellow vest anti-government protests with harsh containment tactics that maimed some protesters.
At one point, yellow vest protesters, picking up on the suicide wave, even chanted “Kill yourselves! Kill yourselves!” at lines of police.
While suicide among police is a problem in many countries, France’s rate appears exceptionally high.
In the U.S., with a population five times that of France, 167 officers died by suicide in 2018 and 111 so far this year, according to Blue H.E.L.P., a Massachusetts-based organization devoted to preventing police suicides. A U.S. suicide prevention bill signed into law in July will also supply funds for support.
In Italy, a fellow European nation slightly less populous than France, 31 officers have killed themselves this year, according to the police support group Cerchioblu. Britain’s Office for National Statistics counts 21 to 23 police suicides a year between 2015 and 2017, but unlike in France, most British police do not have guns.
The French parliamentary reports laid out a kaleidoscope of deficiencies within the security forces that can eat away at morale and feelings of self-worth, from distant superiors fixated on numbers of arrests to the 23 million hours of unpaid overtime officers had worked as December 2018, according to the parliamentary inquiry.
A lack of equipment and dilapidated police stations and living quarters were also cited. In the Paris region, the inquiry found it “wasn’t exceptional” to find five officers sharing a cramped living space or for some to be sleeping in their cars.
The government pledged to launch a platform of psychologists operating 24/7 by June, but say now that won’t be ready until September.
A hotline is available, but Jacob is among those who think that an emergency number alone won’t solve the French police suicide problem. His union wants police to have access to independent psychological services, not those run by the government, so that seeking help — now widely perceived as a failure — can be discreet. Unions also want deeper investments and a structural overhaul.
Jacob said, despite the arrival of female police officers, a French police officer still “has the image of a macho. He doesn’t cry. He doesn’t suffer. He’s tough. To admit you suffer is to admit you have weaknesses. It’s still taboo with us.”
An officer also risks losing their gun if a psychologist deems the firearm a risk, a development that takes the officer out of the field and holds up their problems for all to see, he said.
“It’s a vicious circle,” a police officer who for 20 years sacrificed family life for work recounted on LCI TV, months after pulling himself away from killing himself.
“One night you go home, look around and it’s empty,” he said. “I was tired. I took my gun and put it in my mouth.”
Yet looking at a photo of his daughter and thinking of bodies he’d removed from suicide scenes stopped him.
“No, I don’t have the right” to kill myself, he said.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — The suicide bomber stood in the middle of the dancing, clapping crowd as hundreds of Afghan children and adults celebrated a wedding in a joyous release from Kabul’s strain of war. Then, in a flash, he detonated his explosives-filled vest, killing dozens — and Afghanistan grieved again.
The local Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in the capital this year, with 63 killed and 182 wounded, while outraged Afghans questioned just how safe they will be under an approaching deal between the United States and the Taliban to end America’s longest war.
Stunned families buried the dead, some digging with their bare hands. One wounded survivor, Mohammad Aslim, still wore his bloodied clothes the day after the blast late Saturday. He and his friends had already buried 16 bodies, among them several close relatives, including a 7-year-old boy.
Aslim looked exhausted, and said he was waiting to bury more. Nearby, a man named Amanullah, who lost his 14-year-old son, said in anguish that the explosion had mangled the boy’s face so badly he could no longer recognize it.
“I wish I could find the pieces of my son’s body and put them as one piece into the grave,” he cried.
The emergence of the Islamic State affiliate in recent years might be the greatest threat to Afghan civilians as the U.S. and Taliban seek an agreement to end nearly 18 years of fighting. While the U.S. wants Taliban assurances that Afghanistan will no longer be used as a launch pad for global terror attacks, there appear to be no guarantees of protection for Afghan civilians.
The Taliban, which the U.S. hopes will help curb the IS affiliate’s rise, condemned Saturday’s attack as “forbidden and unjustifiable.”
The blast took place in a western Kabul neighborhood that is home to many in the country’s minority Shiite Hazara community. IS, which declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiites nearly two years ago and has claimed responsibility for many attacks targeting them in the past, said in a statement that a Pakistani IS fighter seeking martyrdom targeted a large Shiite gathering.
The wedding, at which more than 1,200 people had been invited, was in fact a mixed crowd of Shiites and Sunnis, said the event hall’s owner, Hussain Ali.
Ali’s workers were still finding body parts, including hands, in the shattered wedding hall, its floor strewn with broken glass, pieces of furniture and victims’ shoes.
“We have informed the police to come and collect them,” he said.
The bomber detonated his explosives near the stage where musicians were playing and “all the youths, children and all the people who were there were killed,” said Gul Mohammad, another witness.
Survivors described a panicked scene in the suddenly darkened hall as people screamed and scrambled to find loved ones.
“I was with the groom in the other room when we heard the blast and then I couldn’t find anyone,” said Ahmad Omid, who said the groom was his father’s cousin. “Everyone was lying all around the hall.”
The blast at the wedding hall, known as Dubai City, shattered a period of relative calm in Kabul.
On Aug. 7, a Taliban car bomber aimed at Afghan security forces detonated his explosives on the same road, a short drive from the hall, killing 14 people and wounding 145 — most of them women, children and other civilians.
Kabul’s huge, brightly lit wedding halls are centers of community life in a city weary of decades of war, with thousands of dollars often spent on a single evening.
Messages of shock poured in on Sunday. “Such acts are beyond condemnation,” the European Union mission to Afghanistan said. “An act of extreme depravity,” U.S. Ambassador John Bass said. A deliberate attack on civilians “can only be described as a cowardly act of terror,” U.N. envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said.
The explosion came just ahead of Afghanistan’s 100th Independence Day on Monday. The city, long familiar with checkpoints and razor wire, has been under heavier security. A planned event in Kabul marking the anniversary was postponed because of the attack, the president’s office said.
The attack also comes at a greatly uncertain time in Afghanistan as the U.S. and the Taliban appear to be within days of a deal on ending the war after several rounds of talks this year. Afghanistan’s government has been sidelined in those talks as the Taliban refuse to negotiate with what it calls a U.S. puppet.
The U.S. envoy in the talks, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Twitter Sunday that the peace process needs to be accelerated, including holding talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government and other Afghans. He said that will put Afghanistan in a “much stronger position” to defeat the IS affiliate. President Donald Trump was briefed on the talks on Friday but few details have emerged.
Top issues in the talks have included a U.S. troop withdrawal and Taliban guarantees they would not allow Afghanistan to become a launching pad for global terror attacks. In that, the Islamic State affiliate’s increasingly threatening presence is the top U.S. concern. Other issues include a cease-fire and intra-Afghan negotiations on the country’s future.
Many Afghans fear that terror attacks inside the country will continue, and their pleas for peace — and for details on the talks — have increased in recent days. Few appear to believe that the Taliban will step in to protect civilians from IS or anyone else after years of killing civilians themselves.
“Taliban cannot absolve themselves of blame, for they provide platform for terrorists,” President Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter, declaring a day of mourning and calling the attack “inhumane.”
Frustration at the authorities was evident as well, amid a fresh wave of grief.
“We want the government to stop arguing about power and act like a human being to bring peace to this country,” one worker at the wedding hall, Hajji Reza, said. Several of his colleagues remained missing.
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THE 45TH G7 SUMMIT will take place later this year, bringing together the "Group of 7". But when exactly is the summit, who is in the G7 group and why is the European Union invited?
TERRIFYING footage shows the middle of a raging wildfire in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, as thousands of residents and tourists have been evacuated from the holiday hotspot.
THE NATIONAL Hurricane Center is monitoring three tropical disturbances churning around the US for signs of development as hurricane season nears its peak.
CHINA's embassy in Ottawa has told Canada to stop meddling after the state issued a joint statement expressing concern over the situation in Hong Kong with the European Union.
DONALD TRUMP's idea of buying Greenland has taken a hit after the Danish Prime Minister claimed the idea of selling the world's largest island is "absurd".
US Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein vows "there will be no let up in our willingness or our ability to fly or sail where we need to and when we need to" in US commitments to defend the Philippines in the South China Sea.
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Weak demand has led Mahindra & Mahindra, India's largest tractor maker, to retrench about 1,500 temporary workers this fiscal. The company has also decided to defer 15-20% of its Rs 12,000-crore investment plans. Managing director Pawan Goenka speaks to Ketan Thakkar about the demand environment and says M&M is pinning its hopes on the festive season.While there are a very few green shoots on the horizon, says Goenka, more job losses can be expected, especially on the dealer and vendor front, if demand does not pick up during the festive season. Some of them may even go bankrupt. Edited excerpts.The festive season starts with Onam, but looks like it is going to be a washout. How is the rest of the season looking?Two days ago, I was at our tractor dealer meet. Most dealers appeared to be fairly positive about the upcoming season. They felt the rains were better late than never, and that despite floods being very bad in some areas, entire states had not been affected. They expect buying to pick up in the festive season. We are expecting 6-8% growth in the last eight months of this financial year, as I had mentioned during the first quarter earnings conference. Based on what I heard from the dealers, I am confident this figure will be achieved. On a full year basis, 0-2% growth is likely.I feel the positive sentiment in the tractor segment will rub off on the rural auto segment. However, at present, I don't see any specific factors to help us out of the demand slump. The industry body (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) has spoken to the finance minister about our concerns and she (Nirmala Sitharaman) has said she will look into our needs. But I believe some kind of subvention or stimulus package will be required now for a real turnaround of the auto industry. The government may consider various levers — a GST cut, removal of cess, rollout of insurance premium to one year or rollback of 1% tax deducted at source.How are you dealing with the slowdown?This is the fourth slowdown I have witnessed in my career — 2001-02, 2008-09, 2014-2015 and now. I have always said one should not resort to knee jerk measures at a time like this because one is mortgaging one's future that way. Bad times never last and good times will return. If we do not prepare for the good times with products or capacity, we will miss out when the market revives. We (M&M) have never slowed down or reduced our capex on products during any slowdown. (However,) slowdown is a good time to cut the flab, which is what we are doing. Efficiency of travel, dealer programmes, suppliers — we find quite a bit to reduce. No matter how well you manage a company, you can find ways to avoid some expenses.Have you been compelled to lay off?Yes, we have removed some temporary workforce. From April to the present, we have removed about 1,500 workers. We are trying to keep it to a minimum. The concern is not at the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) level; it is more at the dealer and supplier ends. OEMs will tend not to remove people as we are expected not to be harsh, but if things don't improve, you will see more job losses among dealers and suppliers.How long do you expect it to continue?We have seen the market decline for 12 month already. We would like to see a turnaround this festive season, but if we miss it, I think you will see a fairly significant negative impact in terms of job losses and investments at the end of the supplier or dealer. There may even be bankruptcy at suppliers as not many have the ability to withstand such a prolonged slowdown. I am more concerned about dealers and suppliers, not OEMs.Right now, there is nothing that I can pinpoint and say it will lead to a bounce back. The only thing that can make a huge difference is if the Centre deems it fit to support the industry for the next four to six months. Then the market may bounce back very quickly.Are investments being deferred at M&M?What is being deferred is what I would call the discretionary investment — repairs or enhancement that may not be urgent; 15-20% of investment is getting deferred.Is the shift from diesel to petrol a worry?One thing we got right was that we saw the move towards petrol and started working on a range of engines. Our smaller petrol engines are all new. We will hopefully have better engines. We have also focused on making petrol versions performance engines that are similar in characteristics to diesel ones, with good low-end torque that will make our petrol engine more fun to drive. The switch is not a disadvantage. We (have been) known for diesel engines; now we have to prove we make very good petrol engines as well.(The writer travelled to Colombo at the invitation of Mahindra & Mahindra)
Domestic bond markets have rallied sharply on account of rate softening by RBI as well as a rate cut by the US Fed. India's sovereign bond yield recently dipped to a 10-year low. Is there trouble for investors ahead? Should you take your flight to safety? These graphical analyses will give you a clearer picture of the scenario. The Reserve Bank of India has cut policy rates to the lowest since 2010 70711822 Domestic interest rates have been cut by 110 basis points to a nine-year low of 5.4%. The central bank has embarked on a rate softening regime to boost slowing economic growth.The US Federal Reserve has also cut rates after a long time 70711823 The US Fed cut rates taking into account muted inflation and global developments that threaten to hurt growth prospects. It has left doors open for more rate cuts in the future. This has boosted sentiment and fuelled bond market rallies worldwide.India's sovereign bond yield recently dipped to a 10-year low 70711831 Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. India's benchmark government bond yield has dropped to its lowest since the subprime crisis of 2008.Domestic bond markets have rallied sharply on account of rate softening by RBI as well as a rate cut by the US Fed. Trimming of fiscal deficit target by the government and planned shift in part of government's borrowing to overseas markets (leading to lesser domestic supply of government bonds) has also led to euphoria in the bond market.Widening of bond yield spreads signals flight to safety 70711834 The gap in yield between highest grade corporate bonds over comparable government securities has increased. As credit events singed bonds of even the highest grade companies, investors flocked to the safety of government debt. This also means that borrowing costs of corporates have not come down in proportion to drop in interest rates.The gap between bond and equity earnings yield is narrowing 70711841 The lower yield from the Nifty index relative to government bond yield typically means the stock market is expensive. However, narrowing of this gap indicates that risk-reward situation has improved in favour of equities. The bond-equity earnings yield gap indicates how the risk-reward ratio is tilting in terms of macro asset allocation. Earnings yield is the inverse of price-earnings ratio and calculated by dividing earnings per share by the market price of the stock.Central banks worldwide are on the rate cut path 70711850 As economic slowdown grips nations globally as a fallout of trade wars and protectionism, central banks have had to ease interest rates in an attempt to revive growth.Yields in the negative elsewhere10-year government bond yield-Switzerland: -0.98Germany: -0.58Denmark: -0.54Netherlands: -0.46Austria: -0.34Finland: -0.32France: -0.28Sweden: -0.26Belgium: -0.23Japan: -0.23Investor concerns about slowing global growth and easing of monetary policy in the world's largest central banks have sent bond yields tumbling in many countries. A negative interest rate means you have to pay to keep your money in the bank. Investors in such bonds are not receiving interest but must pay more than the face value of the bonds to acquire them. This is a deliberate policy designed to spur economic growth by forcing people to spend and invest rather than keep money idle. It also incentivises banks to lend more aggressively. However, this is a new phenomenon and no evidence exists supporting its utility.Inverted or near-inverted yield curves in global bond markets spell trouble 70711860 ^as on 14 Aug | # as on 16 AugWhen longer tenure bonds yield lower than shorter tenure bonds, it results in inversion of the yield curve.Inverted yield curve is considered a leading indicator of impending recession. In the US, since 1967, every major recession has been preceeded by inverting of the yield curve. Typically, investors demand higher yields from longer-term bonds to compensate for the higher risk of keeping their money tied up for a longer period. But when yields on shorter term bonds rise above longer term bonds, it signals that the bond market is expecting trouble ahead.Source: Bloomberg | Compiled by ETIG Database | Data as on 12 August
KOLKATA | NEW DELHI: Several electronics, smartphones and fashion brands said festive season orders from Amazon and Flipkart have surged up to 80% over last year in the expectation that consumer spending will revive during the Navratri-Diwali period. For online-focussed brands, festive orders have doubled, three senior industry executives said.Executives of leading brands said the marketplaces have projected a surge of over 40% in consumer traffic during the festive season, which is the largest shopping period for Indian consumers. The marketplaces expect much of these will be converted into actual sales led by discounts and first-time online shoppers, they said.'Steepest Discounts of the Year'Two executives said consumers can look forward to some of the highest discounts this year during festive season sales, which will be led primarily by online-exclusive brands, with sellers pushing them to pare margins. The first major online festive sale is likely to begin from end-September this year during Navratri and there will be multiple such promotions until Diwali toward the end of October.70730621 Smartphone maker Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth said sales during Diwali are likely to go up by 8-10% compared with 5-6% growth expected during all of 2019. "We expect migration from feature phones to smartphones will drive sales, while for us festive orders have doubled over last year," he said.Executives at online-focussed electronics brands such as TCL, Kodak, Thomson and iFFalcon said their festive orders have increased 80-100%. For instance, TCL and iFFalcon together sold 225,000 televisions in the last festive season whereas this year marketplaces are stocking more than twice that number."While Independence Day sales was good for televisions after a bad June-July boosted by discounts, consumers can look forward to the steepest discount of this year during the festive season," said Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics, licensee of Thomson and Kodak.Smartphones, consumer electronics and apparel are the three largest contributors to ecommerce sales in India, accounting for around 80% of business.On average, online discounts have come down this year after the government tightened norms for foreign-funded online marketplaces. But studies have indicated that ecommerce's contribution to total sales is going up due to convenience, the wider variety available and new shoppers who are coming on board as internet access gets cheaper.A Flipkart India spokesperson said the marketplace was reporting "very good growth" and was confident of "continued growth" during the festive season. "We are a value player in ecommerce," he said. "The Flipkart marketplace does more listings at a time when the market seems to be bit slow. So, we do not see a slowdown in that climate."Amazon India didn't respond to queries.Electronics brand BPL's chief operation officer Manmohan Ganesh said festive orders this year have gone up by 55% over last year when it had gone up by 25%. "The marketplaces are bullish since consumer sentiments tend to improve during Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali and it's not that people have less cash, nor is there any salary cut," he said.Apparel brand Biba's MD Siddharth Bindra said the marketplaces are hoping and planning for a good Diwali and confirmed there is a surge in orders. The CEO of a leading apparel maker that sells multiple brands online also said the same was happening, led by Flipkart, but declined to give any numbers.Electronics and smartphone industry market researcher GfK India's MD Nikhil Mathur said value growth will improve during the festive season led by the purchase of premium models with several new launches by smartphone brands and lucrative schemes by electronic brands.
MUMBAI: India has outpaced Mexico to become Bacardi's second largest market for rum by volume, as consumers gradually shift to pricier products across the spirits segments in a largely whiskey-dominated market.Bacardi sold about 1.7 million cases of its eponymous brand in India, compared with 1.4 million in Mexico in 2018. A year earlier, both countries had similar volume sales at 1.4 million cases, according to the International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR). The US remained the largest market for the Bermuda-based company with rum sales of 6.4 million cases."We see lot of consumers upgrade to higher-priced rum and other spirits which helped us grow about 19% last year since most of our brands are into premium segments. India is also a top priority market for us globally, and we have been investing in bringing newer brands and supporting infrastructure last year," said Sanjit Randhawa, the managing director at Bacardi India. "The market also bounced back after highway ban and regulatory issues a year ago."With sales of Rs3,215 crore, or 6.1 million cases, the maker of Bombay Sapphire gin, Grey Goose and Dewar's Scotch, is the third largest international spirits company in India, after Diageo and Pernod Ricard.The volume has nearly doubled over the past three years, after it launched a slew of products, especially in non-rum segments such as William Lawson's Scotch, Dewar's 15- and 18-year-old, Star of Bombay gin and sparkling wine brand Martini Prosecco.Whiskey accounts for nearly 70% of India's overall spirits market of 343 million cases in volume.Bacardi doesn't want to restrict its rum portfolio and is planning to launch higher priced versions — it has recently launched Reserva Ocho, an eight years aged rum in India and has plans to introduce four years and 10 years aged rum."Rum as a category is gradually shifting to aged products globally, similar to whiskey or the scotch segment where consumers like their drinks on the basis of maturation age. The trend will not be different in India which is premiumising rapidly," added Randhawa.Rum sales in India have historically been driven by the Canteen Stores Department or army canteens and consumers in southern and eastern India, mostly dominated by mass brands. Also, for older consumers, the category is seeing a slow ebb to whisky."The category is likely to premiumise given consumer sentiment and the increasing interest among local producers to launch premium products," said the latest IWSR report.Bacardi's rum portfolio grew 22%. In comparison, Diageo, which owns McDowells No1 Celebration and Captain Morgan rum, saw a 3% decline in 2018 in the segment at a much higher base. Mohan Meakin's Old Monk grew 7%, while sales of Khoday expanded 5%, said the report.
MUMBAI: In a sign of continued M&A activity in the healthcare technology sector, a bunch of private equity firms including home grown funds Everstone Capital and ChrysCapital Advisors, and global funds such as KKR & Co and Baring Private Equity Asia are in separate talks to buy a controlling stake in Nashville-based healthcare IT services firm emids Technologies in a deal worth $200-225 million.Multiple people aware of the development said through the proposed deal, both promoters and existing US-based PE investors—Baird Capital, Council Capital and Union Grove Venture Partners — will sell their stakes.At present, the three PE funds hold together about 65% stake, promoters hold 23% and the rest of the stake is held by friends and employees. In this proposed deal, promoters are likely to hold about 10% stake in the company."Promoters demand a price of $225 million, while a couple of bids were submitted at $200 million range," said one of above mentioned persons.70730650 emids Technologies provides Healthcare Information Technology and BPO services to the healthcare industry. Investment bank Credit Suisse is running a formal process to find a buyer.Spokespersons with KKR, ChrysCapital and Everstone declined to comment while mails sent to Saurabh Sinha, founder & CEO of emids, spokespersons with Baring PE Asia, Baird Capital, Council Capital and Union Grove Venture Partners did not elicit any responses till the press time on Sunday.Founded in 1999 by former Wipro Technologies engineers Saurabh Sinha and Arnab Chatterjee, emids' business process outsourcing services include electronic health record (EHR) application deployment & management, analytics, data integration & governance, software development & testing, and business intelligence. India is one of the largest markets for emids through its operations in Bengaluru and Hyderabad offices.In 2013, emids Technologies had raised $13.3 million from Baird Capital and Council Capital to meet its organic growth plans and pursue selective acquisitions. In 2017, emids expanded the business with its acquisition of Texas-based healthcare information analytics company Encore Health Resources, which also added about 200 consultants to emids' base of 1,500 employees in the US.emids' client base across the US, Europe and Asia include hospitals, medical insurance providers, healthcare technology firms, healthcare software vendors and medical device producers. IT services and technology was among the top three sectors that saw major M&A activities during the first half of 2019 in India, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. The sector saw deals worth $5.3 billion, up more than two-fold from the year earlier, the data showed. However, overall M&A activity was down 51.5% compared to the first six months of 2018, it added.Last month, Baring Private Equity Asia had acquired healthcare analytics firm CitiusTech from PE investor General Atlantic and promoters in a deal valuing the company at $1billion.
India is unique for foreign investors but they feel let down by the way they are treated, said Raamdeo Agrawal, co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. In an interview with Nishanth Vasudevan ahead of the firm's annual global investor conference in Mumbai, Agrawal spoke about the stock market outlook, downturn and real estate crisis among other issues. Edited excerpts:What is your assessment of the current slowdown?My sense is inventory correction is more or less done. The correction which you are seeing is the actual decline in the consumer demand. What is happening is that it is a situation where negativity is leading to further negativity. Nobody is talking good but if you ask a lot of people, their businesses are not doing so bad. Ultimately, we have to see from the tax collections. Last month was not so bad. It may not be meeting the targets but there is nothing like a collapse. The economy is growing but not at 7-8 per cent. In the March quarter, it was 5.8 per cent.What phase of the bear market are we in?Maybe, it is an early stage. The index (Sensex, Nifty) is just about 10 per cent from the top. The All Cap index is down 12-13 per cent but the intensity of that 13 per cent decline is a lot more in the mid- to small-caps. The index is not hurt right now but I am more disappointed with the pace of corporate earnings. I don't see many companies growing at 15-20 per cent. That happens when the economy is on the boil. You see almost everything is growing at 15-20 per cent. It is rare phenomenon to see 25-30 per cent growth.What are your foreign clients telling you about their outlook for India?India is unique but there is a need for stability in laws. The positive side is the opportunity in India; there are only one or two countries like this. That's why they keep flocking here. But, they feel let down by the way they are treated. In China typically after one year you don't have capital gains tax or dividend tax. Corporate tax is 25 per cent. There is no STT. It is stable. In India, valuations are high around 22-23 times. Earnings growth is uncertain, while regulations have been unstable.Is the worst over for NBFCs?The RBI is releasing liquidity, keeping the entire system much more in liquid form and rate cuts have happened. They are trying to see that there is no major default. So, all sorts of firefighting are on. This crisis has its own proportions. Unless you are part of it you will not be able to appreciate the severities. The NBFC business was nothing but re-lending, reselling of liabilities from banks and mutual funds to the last mile. Now, nobody wants to lend to NBFCs. Everybody is in safety mode, whether it is real estate lending or even housing finance.Is the current slowdown in auto the worst that you have seen?It looks like one of the very severe ones. It is not only about the financing. It is something else. The squeeze in the credit flow has become widespread. One year ago, the situation was very different; the industry was in good shape. And, it's not that everybody has gone into EVs (electric vehicles). Whenever there is a fall in economic growth, there should be slowdown in auto demand but 25-30 per cent collapse is very significant. I was talking to one of the companies which had digital marketing. They were saying that the aggregate Google search for a lot of durables is down by 15-20 per cent and he is saying that if something is not done very quickly, it might nosedive.In terms of risk-reward, it is a good time to look at some of the auto companies?Confidence is low. Even my confidence is low. Right now, we are talking about first year of decline. My experience is if you run 25 years of data, recessions typically last for about two years. We are in a classical business cycle downturn. It depends on how fast the government responds. A lot of businesses are out of action. People have lost jobs. So it is better that you have a clear signal.What is your advice for hardcore equity investors?Long-term prospects of the equity markets continue to be the same. This government has taken up several reforms like GST. They have controlled inflation; we are seeing more formal economy. Clean companies, which adopt healthy business practices, pay their taxes on time and comply with all regulations, are trading at high premiums.What is your view on corporate banks like ICICI Bank and Axis? They aren't finding level the market is expecting.Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have doubled in the last few years. What more do you want? It is also about perception. With the episodes like IL&FS in the recent past, the perception hasn't been very good. Currently, there is talk about slowdown. These lenders are in a very good position currently since NBFCs are going through crisis. Whatever 10-12 per cent credit growth is happening, responsible debtors are coming through these 5-6 private lenders.What's your view on consumption sector where valuations haven't come down despite slowdown?If you don't correct, returns will be low. You cannot buy a low growth company with high valuations and make a lot of money.Do you think the existing companies are strong enough to lead an industrial recovery?If you buy companies that are least impacted by a slowdown, the same winners of the downturn should lead the recovery. What is the bottom of the downturn is still not clear. Previously what was happening was with the emergence of China and surplus global liquidity, everything was on fire. In such a scenario, you could produce and dump anything into the global market. The situation isn't same any longer. For recovery, you would need revival in demand and that has to come from domestic level and supplemented by global factors. My sense is it will be led by domestic demand and it has to start with government expenditure.Are fears of a real estate collapse valid?This is a large sector and lot of money is stuck in it. Something is going to happen in the sector; either it could be a complete collapse or something else. The current situation is unprecedented. There is huge inventory piled up, no fresh buying by anybody. My sense is that the prices will continue to slow until at some level of low interest rate and sustained liquidity, consumers will start buying again. Real estate is at the heart of the current slowdown across the country. It is all interlinked since NBFCs are also linked. Lenders will have to take haircuts and the government has to be an enabler. Lenders, who cannot take the haircuts or downturn or stress, will be eliminated. The worst thing is that the stress is still not on their books but I don't know when the books will show up.
New Delhi: 9 of the 10 most valued Indian companies suffered a combined loss of Rs 84,354.1 crore in their market valuation last week mainly dragged down by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).During the holiday-curtailed week, the BSE Sensex lost 231.58 points.Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) was the only firm among the top 10 companies to post a gain in its market valuation.The market capitalisation (m-cap) of RIL zoomed Rs 72,153.08 crore to Rs 8,09,755.16 crore at close on Friday after the announcement of a host of investor-friendly proposals at its annual general meeting early last week.TCS, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), HDFC, Infosys, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI closed the week with losses.The m-cap of TCS tanked Rs 30,807.1 crore to Rs 8,11,828.43 crore for the week ended Friday.HDFC's valuation tumbled Rs 19,495.4 crore to Rs 3,62,123.92 crore and that of HDFC Bank by Rs 15,065.8 crore to Rs 6,08,826.25 crore.Infosys' m-cap eroded by Rs 6,700.27 crore to Rs 3,32,672.51 crore and that of Kotak Mahindra Bank declined Rs 6,525.48 crore to Rs 2,86,340.99 crore.HUL's m-cap fell by Rs 2,954.95 crore to Rs 3,95,335.97 crore and that of ITC dipped Rs 1,657.41 crore to Rs 3,10,488.97 crore.The valuation of ICICI Bank fell by Rs 790.71 crore to Rs 2,70,569.37 crore and that of SBI went lower by Rs 356.99 crore to Rs 2,59,661.57 crore.In the ranking of top-10 firms, TCS remained at the number one position followed by RIL, HDFC Bank, HUL, HDFC, Infosys, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI.
PUNE: The US has moved a step closer to changing how the H-1B visa issuance process is carried out from next year that would impact Indian IT services firms.Last week, the Office of Management and Budget said it has completed a review of a proposed regulation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would mandate employers to register without paying the H-1B visa fees of those employees who they intend to sponsor for H-1B visa permit. A lottery system would shortlist people for the work permit, following which the applications will be accepted.Indian companies are concerned that the process of issuing visas would be non-transparent and would favour US technology companies over them. 70728685 ET reported on August 9, that Indian IT firms have seen higher rejections for their visa applications, as the Trump administration looks at hiring more locals. The DHS body also did a review of increasing the visa fee, a move once finalised would come into effect by April 2020. The revised fees has not been announced yet.Once the proposed H-1B registration rule is published in the next few days, US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) will open it for public comment before being finalised. Poorvi Chothani, managing partner at the Mumbaibased immigration law firm Lawcompanies Quest, said that USCIS should solicit feedback from interested stakeholders before the electronic registration system is implemented to make sure they roll out a viable and sustainable system."It is important that USCIS confirms by mid September, 2019 whether it intends to mandate use of the electronic registration for the H-1B CAP petitions that will be filed in April 2020 for FY 2021. This is important because a large number of companies begin their H-1B cap filing process as early as August, and no later than January, depending on the industry."
Builders to pay interest for delayed projects: MahaRERA The developer back in 2018 had said that the project had got delayed because of various reason including demonetisation and implementation of RERA act
Journalist shot dead in Uttar Pradesh The incident is being called a matter of personal enmity. It took place after the victim's neighbours tried to dump cow dung near their house
RCC: A love marriage turning foul? As we are on a spree of making cheap homes for economic weaker section, we need to ensure that they don't turn into death traps after thirty years as the ones that we have inherited have now become
Mumbai: Youth duped of Rs 30,000 by fake travel agent The accused identified as Mohammed Hanif Mehboob Khan was arrested earlier this week by Sahar police
Watchdog approved failed drugs for bribes: CBI busts racket The CDSCO, a national regulatory body for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, is now on the agency's radar for the assent it granted to samples that failed testing
Congress for triple talaq due to votes: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Home Minister Amit Shah launches a scathing attack on the party for its opposition to the bill
FYJC admissions: 80K seats up for grabs, but 9K students don't pick any College authorities advise students to not let go of seats they have already been allotted
Coercive recovery: Gujarat High Court equates state's tax recovery tactics with 'extortion' Orders state to refund the sum recovered from company along with 6% interest
Walkway linking Noida Metro opened The walkway, built by the Noida Metro Rail Corporation, was inaugurated by Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Off-track business: Western Railway staff quarters in Parel house eateries & hotels, says plaint The commercial outlets run till late night. When DNA visited the place, the residential quarters barely resembled one amid the hectic business activity
