Monthly Archives: October 2015

EU wrestles with a refugee crisis that shows no sign of ending

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Hungary sealed its border with Croatia overnight in an effort to curb the numbers of people headed for western Europe.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to travel to Turkey to seek help in managing the continent’s refugee crisis. Bloomberg reports:

Under fire at home for her open-armed stance toward refugees, Merkel is looking abroad to Turkey for help in resolving the crisis. For the European Union’s pivotal leader, that means engaging with the president of 77 million Turks, a man long criticized by the EU as using autocratic methods to squelch dissent and accumulate power.

“There is obvious concern that turning up in Istanbul in the dead heat of an election will be perceived to be an endorsement of Erdogan,” Mujtaba Rahman, head of the Europe practice at Eurasia Group in London, said in an interview. Still, “I don’t think the EU leaders have any other choice but to deal with Turkey.”

But getting a deal might not be as easy as Merkel might think.

https://twitter.com/ajam/status/655115212165550080

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WORLD

Turkey shot down a drone it said was over its airspace, as fighting for the Syrian city of Aleppo intensified.

In the western Pacific, people in the Philippines are braced for the arrival of Typhoon Koppu and potentially devastating rains over the weekend and into Monday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is urging calm in the mideast as violence continues, with a total of 40 people now having died in recent clashes between Israel and Palestinians. But Kerry’s comments on the situation angered some.

Elsewhere in Republican politics,

Meanwhile, as VP Joe Biden prepares to announce, well, something…

all isn’t sweetness and light in Democratic camp,

but Bernie Sanders’ Presidential campaign is now 100 per cent cuter via what can only be hoped is a short-lived hashtag.

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BUSINESS

A further blow to the UK steel industry is expected in the next few days

Uber scored a victory in a British court…

while Apple lost in a US one…

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CULTURE

Ken Taylor, the Canadian diplomat portrayed in the movie ‘Argo’ as the savior of a number of US hostages in Iran during the 1979 crisis, died aged 81.

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SPORTS

Fresh problems for Fifa and its suspended President Sepp Blatter amid an investigation of claims over Germany’s award of the 2006 finals, following reporting by Der Spiegel.

https://twitter.com/dangillmor/status/655040425862955008

In baseball, the New York Mets host the Chicago  Cubs on Saturday night in Game One of the NLDS.

This weekend sees the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup and it’s getting increasingly hard to see past an AUS-NZ final…

 

 

C’est la vie?

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Lets start with a little context today…

Not really news, though, is it? Been that way forever. It’s just more obvious. And insidious. And acute. And not ever likely to reverse.

Oh well, looks like it’ll all be over soon.

OK, moving on…

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WORLD

This isn’t good.

“Verbal ectoplasm” is the new “bollocks”, apparently.

https://twitter.com/Anoosh_C/status/654591157079515136

It’s still conference season. Today it’s the SNP

Meanwhile, in the virtual reality that is American politics, some actual virtual reality.

Perhaps unsurprisingly…

but likely not related

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BUSINESS

That must be pretty much all of them by now…

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

The BBC has a detailed interactive special on the price of football. 

There is no price too high, though, for this piece of marketing genius…

In other sports, wait, not sports news..

https://twitter.com/JackofKent/status/654592301977718784

Fantasy games are facing an FBI investigation.

Finally,

 

Syria braced for fresh escalation

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The beleaguered Syrian city of Aleppo looks set to be the flashpoint for a further escalation in the conflict there, as Iranian ground troops backed by Russian airstrikes target “insurgents” in support of the Assad regime.

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WORLD

Israel is moving to seal off areas of East Jerusalem in an effort to keep control amid recent violent unrest.

https://twitter.com/aenewsline/status/654215025872240640

Ah yes, that’ll do the trick…

At last night’s Democratic Presidential debate in Las Vegas, front-runner Hillary Clinton gave a typical, self-confident performance, making us think why, exactly, she doesn’t want to have any more debates.

This is just creepy…

Bernie Sanders probably had the soundbite of the night, but it maybe didn’t come across as he intended – or perhaps it did.

Ankara’s police and intelligence chiefs have been dismissed following the weekend’s horrific bomb attack on Kurdish peace demonstrators.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and still-new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn face off again on Wednesday for PMQs.

https://twitter.com/sonofspeke/status/653332518993793024

Finally, what day would be complete without a dolphin-related analysis of foreign policy?

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BUSINESS

The latest Chinese growth data – expected to be 6.8 per cent, the weakest since 2009 – is prompting fresh concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Meanwhile, the FT reports that China is set to issue sovereign debt in renminbi in London, the first bond issue in the currency outside of China.

The plan is to issue Chinese Treasury bonds in renminbi in London after laying the foundations with launches of short-term debt by the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, the officials said.

The scheme is likely to be a key announcement in the visit of Xi Jinping, the president, to the UK next week, they added. It will be hailed as a breakthrough by Mr Xi’s British hosts, who are preparing to give the communist party leader a five-star welcome in an effort to gain an edge over the European rivals in attracting Chinese investment.

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

The Chicago Cubs’ history-making post-season run continues, as the team that has gone longest since winning baseball’s World Series took another step towards this year’s Fall Classic by beating the St Louis Cardinals 6-4 to clinch a berth in the NLCS. It is the first time in the team’s history the Cubs have won a post-season series at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs will now face the winners of Thursday’s Game Five between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

And veteran sportswriter Roger Angell weighs in on that controversial Chase Utley slide.

I shuddered at the Utley–Tejada collision, and felt bad about its result, but couldn’t separate it in my mind from many dozens of similar events over the years, in and around second base. Deposed, I would offer that the crash looks frightening mostly because Tejada, beginning a pirouette for a too-late peg to first, has his back turned to the base runner at the moment of impact. Utley came in hard and slightly high, off to the right of the bag, his right shoulder colliding with Tejada’s left leg and upending him; in continuation, his upper inside right thigh, near the crotch, encountered Tejada’s planted right leg. The flying, skidding force of the slide breaks bone, down near the ankle. Because Tejada is looking away, we see only his number, 11, on his back, and the scene looks like a truck-vs.-pedestrian shocker caught by a back-alley security camera. If Tejada is looking toward the base runner, by contrast, it’s a debatable hard takeout bang but still baseball.

For Mets fans, though, Utley is, well…

 

 

 

Dems ready for opening salvo

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The Democratic candidates for the Presidency face off for the first time Tuesday night in Las Vegas as the party tries to switch voters’ attention away from the ongoing entertainment that is the Republican primary.

Tonight’s event will be carried live by CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper. David Axelrod explains what each contender needs to get out of the occasion:

There has been a strange disconnect between Clinton and Democratic voters this year and a sense of resignation, rather than excitement, about her candidacy. This challenge is reflected in the contrast between the large, enthusiastic crowds Sen. Bernie Sanders is drawing with his populist crusade and the more tepid reaction Clinton is generating. (To be fair, the word from the trail is that for all the jitters about the relative size of her crowds, she is connecting well in the small rooms and town hall meetings, which is meaningful in the early states.)

Whatever else you think about him, Sanders is utterly authentic. And right now, that is Clinton’s challenge. It has been exacerbated by her clumsy, ever-evolving approach to the email issue — something certain to come up again in the debate — and her rapid-fire race to the left to co-opt Sanders’ positions on trade, climate change and other issues that fire up the Democratic base.

Clinton’s mission on Tuesday is to rise above the tactical and present a coherent, value-laden vision that will make her flood of policy papers seem like something more than positions of convenience.

There could, meanwhile, still be a third-party candidacy on the left.

https://twitter.com/jjn1/status/653492531150352384

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WORLD

The technical report into the causes of the crash of Malaysia Airlines MH17 over Ukraine will be published on Tuesday by Dutch authorities.

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MEDIA

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CULTURE

Grief and anger after Ankara attacks

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Political fallout continues over the weekend’s bombings in Ankara which may have killed as many as 120 people – the worst such attack in Turkey’s history – with the government apparently blaming Islamic State but opponents of President Erdogan holding him responsible. The country is in a three-day period of national mourning, but protests have been widespread.

Robin Wright writes at The New Yorker:

There was no initial claim of responsibility for the Ankara bombs. But ISIS was widely considered to be a top suspect. “What we’re looking at,” Zaman (Amberin Zaman, a columnist for the independent Turkish news site Diken) said, “is a battle between the Kurds and ISIS within Turkey’s borders.” ISIS could have two goals, Barkey (Henri Barkey, the Turkish-born director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, in Washington) said. It might want “revenge, and to punish Kurds” for its losses on the battlefield in the past year. “Goal No. 2 is to deliberately increase polarization between the A.K.P., the ruling party of the President, and the Kurds, the largest minority. It may also have been an attempt to sabotage a P.K.K. ceasefire with the government that everyone knew was coming.” It’s a kind of tactical tit-for-tat on different turf.

The Turkish government said next month’s planned elections would go ahead.

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WORLD

The US government is to pay compensation to the families of those killed in last week’s  attack on the MSF hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz.

In Afghanistan on Sunday, meanwhile, two RAF personnel were among five people killed when a helicopter crashed during a landing at a base in the capital, Kabul.

North Korea held a rally to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ruling party.

(That’s all the torches by the way…)

The GOP’s search for a Speaker goes on. Generally speaking, having the word “chaos” after your party name doesn’t bode well.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are preparing for Tuesday night’s opening debate.

Sadly, not all the left’s best brains will be on stage.

The US Supreme Court could announce by Tuesday whether it will hear a challenge to a local Chicago law banning assault weapons.

Lord Howe, a former ally of Margaret Thatcher widely credited – or blamed, depending on your point of view – for precipitating her downfall, died at the weekend aged 88.

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MEDIA

Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, held in Iran since July 2014 on espionage charges, has apparently been sentenced, according to Iranian officials.

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SPORTS

As the Rugby World Cup’s pool stage came to a close, Ireland defeated France 24-9 to win their group and face will face Argentina in the quarter-finals. As group runners-up, France will play New Zealand.

Japan, meanwhile, exited the tournament despite a win in their last game against the USA.

Notre Pays Wee

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norniron

With a confident 3-1 victory over Greece in Belfast on Thursday night, Northern Ireland qualified for next summer’s  European Championship finals in France. It will be their first time in the tournament’s final stages and their first major tournament finals since World Cup 1986.

 

That’ll be it for the Note until the weekend as our news desk celebrates….

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

Pressure grows for inquiry into Afghan hospital attack

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President Obama’s decision to apologize to Medicins San Frontieres for the bombing of the hospital in Afghanistan produced pretty much the reaction you’d expect. Meanwhile, calls grow for an independent inquiry into the incident.

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WORLD

David Cameron’s speech to the Tory conference seemed to have echoes of another Prime Minister not so long ago… John Rentoul writes at The Independent:

I started by mocking David Cameron for lifting phrases from his predecessor-but-one as Prime Minister. He spoke about the morning of 8 May: “As dawn rose a new light, a bluer light, fell across our isle.” Silly poeticism, I thought, before recognising the echo of Tony Blair’s “a new dawn has broken, has it not?” Then Cameron was on “a journey” and even claiming to be the first prime minister ever to have said he wasn’t going to fight another election, which Blair said in 2004. Indeed, Blair said almost the same thing about not have much time left and therefore being in a hurry to get on with change.

As Cameron went on, however, I started to worry less about the borrowings from Blair and the clunkiness of the speech-writing (“Labour: you’re not for working people, you’re for hurting people”), and to pay more attention to the message. Because this was a big speech with a big message.

But even the gripping events in Manchester couldn’t compete with the really big story in Britain yesterday.

Meanwhile, the current Labour Party leader continues to create exactly the sort of kerfuffle the Tory press enjoy.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/652075754134589440

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BUSINESS

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MEDIA

As Jane Martinson tweets, Rupert Murdoch’s Twitter feed is the “gift that keeps on giving.” It now seems we know what the right’s problem with President Obama was all along…

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CULTURE

Of course there is…

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SPORTS

UPDATE: 

https://twitter.com/dbardow/status/652072592552165376

But at least he won’t be out of work for long.

https://twitter.com/MirrorRowZed/status/652073005955325952

EARLIER:

FIFA President Sepp Blatter may be suspended on Thursday by the organization he runs for 90 days. That might still be the least of his worries.

blatter(The Sun/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

Looks like he’s on his way. Cue the Jurgen Kop back page headlines.

The Chicago Cubs will face the St Louis Cardinals in the NLDS starting on Friday, after outlasting the Pittsburgh Pirates in last night’s one-game Wild Card playoff. It will be the first time the traditional rivals have ever met in the post-season.

A big Euro qualifying weekend for the home countries kicks off tonight.

While the pool stage comes to a conclusion in the Rugby World Cup.

Have an enjoyable and peaceful weekend.

 

 

Cameron goes from hot seat to center stage

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Prime Minister David Cameron delivers his conference speech on Wednesday, capping off a string of appearances by those who may or may not be auditioning for his job down the road. Stephen Castle at the New York Times writes:

Even before his speech, Mr. Cameron gave several broadcast interviews, perhaps trying to eliminate any notion of him as a King Lear figure within his own party, with the next election not due until 2020.

But according to the British news media, as many as 18 Conservative lawmakers aspire to the leadership of their party. The prospect of succeeding Mr. Cameron is particularly enticing because of the dismal fortunes of the other political parties after the May election.

And, well, here he is by the numbers …

Meanwhile, one of the possible contenders to succeed Cameron, Home Secretary Theresa May, yesterday delivered a somewhat incendiary speech on immigration. Alex Massie writes at The Spectator:

I suggest that there is a certain tension between bemoaning ‘runaway’ immigration and saluting the great, equally ‘runaway’, success of London. You cannot have it both ways. London, in particular, is great because [of], not despite, its diversity. The problem of London exceptionalism is that the rest of the country is not more like London.

Unless, of course, you’re a Home Secretary pandering to the basest elements of the Tory party. A Home Secretary basing her pitch to lead her party on a stale and noxious concoction of tawdry nativism. In that case, in those circumstances, you are licensed to present a picture of Britain as a country on the brink of an abyss, in which hordes – or swarms – of migrants are undermining the British way of life, threatening social cohesion and tearing up whatever remains of whatever you mean by our ‘social fabric’. A country that is failing, in other words.

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SPORT

Major League Baseball’s post-season is under way, with the Houston Astros eliminating the New York Yankees in last night’s AL wildcard playoff. In tonight’s NL game, the Chicago Cubs travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates.

https://twitter.com/GhostHarryCaray/status/651570940946550784

 

Snowden, surveillance and the Smurfs

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Edward Snowden’s first British TV interview was broadcast on the BBC‘s Panorama, and he had some interesting things to say about surveillance techniques and the role of GCHQ. He also said he had offered “many times” to return to the US and face jail, but was “waiting for a response from authorities.”

“So far, they’ve said they won’t torture me, which is a start,” he said.

On surveillance measures possible in the UK, veteran interviewer Peter Taylor writes:

The former intelligence contractor told the BBC’s Panorama that UK intelligence agency GCHQ had the power to hack into phones without their owners’ knowledge.

Mr Snowden said GCHQ could gain access to a handset by sending it an encrypted text message and use it for such things as taking pictures and listening in.

The UK government declined to comment.

On Tuesday morning, meanwhile, the European Court of Justice ruled that an agreement which allows US companies to use the same standard of consumer privacy and data storage in Europe is illegal.

https://twitter.com/WiredUK/status/651326324095778816

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WORLD

An incursion into Turkish airspace by a Russian warplane may or may not have been a “mistake.”

At the Tory conference, a metaphor…

 

Finally, I’ll just leave this here. Make of it what you will…

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BUSINESS

VW’s woes deepen.

That proposed megabrew deal may not go down as easy as was thought.

The US Congress is reviewing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, amid renewed opposition on both sides of the aisle.

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MEDIA

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SPORTS

Big story brewing involving the structure of daily fantasy sports games, according to the New York Times.

Nate Silver has some observations on his timeline.

 

Tories, pig-heads and crusties

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The Conservatives have gathered for their conference in Manchester, accompanied by anti-austerity protesters, who kicked off the week with a 40-hour rave.

https://twitter.com/janinegibson/status/650810102983827456

Follow conference coverage from The Guardian here.

Follow conference coverage from the BBC here.

Meanwhile, the “best prime minister Britain never had,” former Labour chancellor Dennis Healey, died over the weekend, doubtless outliving several journalists who had written his obituary years previously.

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WORLD

The potentially significant Vatican Synod meeting to discuss the future of the family is under way.

Meanwhile there’s some significant walking back being done over the controversial Kim Davis meeting.

Could Donald Trump be laying the groundwork for pulling out of the Presidential race and finally revealing the whole thing as a massive trolling exercise?

Germany is celebrating 25 years since re-unification. That’s how I can never forget how old my oldest son is. I was born the year the Berlin Wall was built. He was born the year it came down. Read whatever generational symbolism you like into that.

It’s Nobel Prize season, so if it’s Tuesday it must be physics..

Finally, we all know what it takes to rouse the great British public.

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BUSINESS

The US and Pacific rim countries finalized a landmark trade deal after a weekend of negotiations in Atlanta.

Twitter named founder Jack Dorsey as CEO, and also reportedly pulled back on a San Francisco expansion plan.

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MEDIA

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SPORTS

There’s still plenty of handwringing over England’s Rugby World Cup exit.

https://twitter.com/ianprior/status/650986990696067072

But the back pages have already moved on to their next compulsion – the intrigue over the proverbial Premier League managerial merry-go-round.

https://twitter.com/TSBible/status/651022733149609984

Meanwhile, time for the infamous vote of confidence over at the Bridge.