國際時事政治選舉集中理性討論區（四）

puerto rico 嗰風原來死成3000人

'Ghetto President' shakes up Ugandan politics

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uganda-politics-explainer/ghetto-president-shakes-up-ugandan-politics-idUSKCN1LE11P

NAIROBI(Reuters) - The arrest this month of a 35-year-old legislator who calls himself “Ghetto President” has sparked fierce street protests in Uganda. Musician-turned-MP Robert Kyagulanyi represents a new challenge to President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986.

Museveni has won praise in the West for his support against militant Islam and his role as power broker in the volatile Great Lakes Region. Uganda has also welcomed foreign investors such as France’s Total, China’s CNOOC and Britain’s Tullow as part of a plan to start pumping oil from 2021.

But the 74-year-old leader’s move to sign a law scrapping a 75-year age limit has prompted many Ugandans to believe he wants to remain in power indefinitely.

Opposition to him has been galvanized by Kyagulanyi, who according to his backers was beaten and tortured after he was arrested on Aug. 14 for his role in the stoning of Museveni’s convoy.

Exclusive: Iran-based political influence operation - bigger, persistent, global

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-facebook-exclusive/exclusive-iran-based-political-influence-operation-bigger-persistent-global-idUSKCN1LD2R9

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An apparent Iranian influence operation targeting internet users worldwide is significantly bigger than previously identified, Reuters has found, encompassing a sprawling network of anonymous websites and social media accounts in 11 different languages.

Facebook and other companies said last week that multiple social media accounts and websites were part of an Iranian project to covertly influence public opinion in other countries. A Reuters analysis has identified 10 more sites and dozens of social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

U.S.-based cyber security firm FireEye Inc and Israeli firm ClearSky reviewed Reuters’ findings and said technical indicators showed the web of newly-identified sites and social media accounts - called the International Union of Virtual Media, or IUVM - was a piece of the same campaign, parts of which were taken down last week by Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc.

Exclusive: France restricts travel by diplomats to Iran

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-iran-exclusive/exclusive-france-restricts-travel-by-diplomats-to-iran-idUSKCN1LD1GJ

PARIS (Reuters) - France has told its diplomats and foreign ministry officials to postpone indefinitely all non-essential travel to Iran, citing a foiled bomb plot and a hardening of Tehran’s attitude towards France, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Any hardening of relations with France could have wider implications for Iran. France has been one of the strongest advocates of salvaging a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in May.

French oil and gas major Total and its carmakers PSA and Renault have led an exodus of European companies from Iran, fearful of the extra-territorial reach of Washington’s sanctions.

The memo cites a foiled plot to bomb a rally held by an exiled Iranian opposition group near Paris that was attended by Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani as a sign of Tehran’s more aggressive stance towards France.

“The behavior of the Iranian authorities suggests a hardening of their position vis-a-vis our country, as well as some of our allies,” Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, the ministry’s secretary general wrote in the notice dated Aug. 20.

“Given the known security risks ... all departmental officers, whether from headquarters or (overseas) posts, are required to defer until further notice, except for urgent work, any travel plans in Iran,” Gourdault-Montagne added.

To counter China, West plans bigger footprint in Pacific: sources

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pacific-diplomacy/to-counter-china-west-plans-bigger-footprint-in-pacific-sources-idUSKCN1LE0PM

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States, Australia, France and Britain will open new embassies in the Pacific, boost staffing levels, and engage with leaders of island nations more often in a bid to counter China’s rising influence in the region, sources have told Reuters.

The battle for influence in the sparsely populated Pacific matters because each of the tiny island states has a vote at international forums like the United Nations, and they also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean.

China has spent $1.3 billion on concessionary loans and gifts since 2011 to become the Pacific’s second-largest donor after Australia, stoking concern in the West that several tiny nations could end up overburdened and in debt to Beijing.

In response, Australia, New Zealand and the United States say they will increase economic aid and expanding their diplomatic presence to countries in the region, government officials and diplomats told Reuters.

“We are concerned about Chinese practices that lead to unsustainable debt,” said a U.S. government source with direct knowledge of Washington’s plan for the region, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. government source said Washington would boost diplomatic staffing numbers in Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and potentially Fiji within the next two years.

Australia’s government is expected to name its first High Commissioner to Tuvalu within weeks, rushing to fill a post Canberra decided upon establishing only several months ago, a government source told Reuters. He declined to be identified as he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Britain will open new High Commissions in Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa by the end of May 2019, while French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to organize a meeting of Pacific leaders early next year, diplomatic and government sources have told Reuters.

左膠出黎示威未

Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico raises official death toll from 64 to 2,975

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/28/hurricane-maria-new-death-toll-estimate-is-close-to-3000

Puerto Rico has raised the official death toll from Hurricane Maria to 2,975 people – a dramatic increase on the previous official figure of 64 – almost a year after the devastating storm struck the island.

The death toll was changed for the first time since December, following the publication of new research by George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access,” Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, told reporters. “I think the lesson is to anticipate the worst.”

This is the first official change to the death toll following efforts by journalists, activists and academics to get the government to officially acknowledge the scale of devastation.

Rosselló told reporters the island could have been better prepared for the hurricane, which hit on 20 September 2017, causing an island-wide electricity outage and telecommunications failures that made it nearly impossible for people to contact loved ones and get help for weeks after the storm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPKERHw6xuE

Trump warns of 'left-wing violence' if Democrats win mid-term elections

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45340275

US President Donald Trump has warned that his policies will be "violently" overturned if the Democrats win November's mid-term elections.

He told Evangelical leaders that the vote was a "referendum" on freedom of speech and religion, and that these were threatened by "violent people".

He appealed to conservative Christian groups for help, saying they were one vote away from "losing everything".

Mid-term elections are widely seen as a test of the president's popularity.

Mr Trump has been battling negative publicity after his ex-lawyer and former campaign chief were convicted earlier this month.

An audio recording of Mr Trump's closed-door meeting with Evangelical leaders at the White House was leaked to US media.

During the meeting, Mr Trump said the mid-term elections were not just a referendum on him but also "on your religion, it's a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment [guaranteeing basic freedoms]".

"It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa - these are violent people," he said.

Antifa - short for anti-fascist - refers to groups of far-left protesters who fight far-right ideology and regularly clash with far-right demonstrators.

Arrest warrant leak fuels suspicions of far-right links with German police

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/29/arrest-warrant-leak-fuels-suspicions-of-far-right-links-with-german-police

The leak of an arrest warrant to far-right groups has heightened widespread suspicions of links between German police and xenophobic demonstrators.

Authorities have confirmed reports of the leak after the arrest warrant – containing the full name of the main suspect in the murder of a 35-year-old man, which triggered violent anti-foreigner protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz – was tweeted by Lutz Bachmann, the founding member of the far-right protest group Pegida. The suspect is a 22-year-old Iraqi man.

Police in Chemnitz are under fire for being inadequately prepared for far-right protests in the city on Sunday night, following the stabbing of Daniel H, whose surname has not been released in line with German practice.

The demonstration attracted around 6,000 people and 1,500 counter-protesters and quickly turned violent with far-right groups breaking off into smaller mobs and hunting foreigners through the city streets in riots that continued on Monday evening. Some protesters shouted: “For every dead German, a dead foreigner,” in scenes reminiscent of Nazi-era pogroms.

A police spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the arrest warrant to German media. “The document is real,” she said. “We have already instigated a judicial inquiry ... regarding the violation of official secrets.”

Violence in Chemnitz: A timeline of events

https://www.dw.com/en/violence-in-chemnitz-a-timeline-of-events/a-45262531

贏左嗰班反而要暴動係咩思路

以死傷計, 已經係美國史上第二風災
但同之前Katrina比, 政府簡直係WFC mode

冇票

慘

除咗總統選舉primary 有票， 仲有無其它

例子：berkeley

係Congress有個Non-voting Member

Don McGahn: White House counsel to resign, Trump confirms

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/29/don-mcgahn-resign-trump-white-house-counsel

Don McGahn, the White House counsel, will resign from his position later this year, Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday.

The US president was reported to have been troubled by the recent disclosure that McGahn had cooperated extensively with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

McGahn voluntarily met with the special counsel’s team at least three times over nine months for a total of 30 hours interviews, the New York Times reported, and Trump’s personal legal team never asked for a detailed account of what he said.

McGahn worked as an attorney on Trump’s presidential campaign before taking his job in the White House. He is a former federal elections commissioner and a former partner at Jones Day, the powerhouse global law firm.

In the White House, McGahn helped Trump install conservative judges in top posts at a record rate, with successful confirmations of 12 appeals court judges, six district court judges and one supreme court justice, Neil Gorsuch.

Trump said in a tweet that McGahn would depart in the autumn, by which time the administration hopes to have installed Brett Kavanaugh on the supreme court. McGahn has taken a leading role in handling Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Argentina seeks emergency release of $50bn in IMF funds amid financial crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/30/argentina-imf-50bn-loan-financial-crisis-macri

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has asked the International Monetary Fund for an early release of funds from a $50bn deal to ease concerns that the country will not be able to meet its debt obligations for 2019.

Macri said in a televised address that Argentina had agreed with the IMF “to advance all necessary funds to guarantee compliance with next year’s financial programme”.

Macri said that in the past week there had been “expressions of a lack of trust in the markets” about Argentina. He said the decision sought to dispel any uncertainty, but he did not specify the amount or when the funds would be released.

Argentina was forced to strike a deal with the IMF earlier this year after a sharp depreciation of its currency and a run on the peso. The three-year standby financing deal is aimed at strengthening its weak economy and helping it fight inflation, which at 30% per year is one of the highest rates in the world.

Support for Sweden Dems slips ahead of Sept 9 election: poll

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-election-poll/support-for-sweden-dems-slips-ahead-of-sept-9-election-poll-idUSKCN1L71K2

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Support for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats dropped last week, pushing the party down to third place in the polls ahead of the Sept. 9 election, an opinion survey showed on Wednesday.

The Sweden Democrats would get support of 19.2 percent of the respondents, down from 21.6 percent last week. They are trailing the Social Democrats and the Moderates in the poll, commissioned by Swedish Television.

Sweden faces an uncertain election as the rise of the Sweden Democrats have rocked the traditional left-right bloc politics with neither side likely to be able to form a majority.

The Sweden Democrats, shunned by all parties since winning their first seats in parliament in 2010, are looking to break their isolation and has vowed to try to bring down any government that doesn’t talk to them.

LATEST POLL: Swedish general election

http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/SWEDEN-ELECTION/010070EP0Z2/index.html

Sweden will vote on September 9 to elect members of the Riksdag, which will be responsible for electing the Prime Minister.

France says EU needs strategic relationship with Russia on defense

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-finland-defense-russia/france-says-eu-needs-strategic-relationship-with-russia-on-defense-idUSKCN1LF0UP

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The European Union needs a strategic relationship with Turkey, including in defense matters, and should modernize its post-Cold War relations with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

Macron is a strong advocate for a Europe that is able to defend its strategic interests and financial independence and respond to new global economic and defense situation brought on by Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States.

He has sought to improve relations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, although his efforts have been complicated by allegations of Russian meddling in elections from the United States to France and a nerve agent attack in Britain.

Bringing down the Turnbull government

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VHvoClQe8o

Trump threatens to pull US out of World Trade Organization

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45364150

President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the body fails to change the way it treats America.

"If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve disputes between countries.

But Mr Trump, who has been pushing protectionist policies, says the US is treated unfairly by the body.

His warning about a possible US pull-out from the organisation highlights the conflict between the president's trade policies and the open trade system that the WTO oversees.

Meanwhile, Washington has recently been blocking the election of new judges to the WTO's dispute settlement system, which could potentially paralyse its ability to issue judgments.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has also accused the WTO of interfering with US sovereignty.

Canada, U.S. push toward NAFTA deal by Friday

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta/canada-u-s-push-toward-nafta-deal-by-friday-idUSKCN1LF16R

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top NAFTA negotiators from Canada and the United States increased the pace of their negotiations Thursday to resolve final differences to meet a Friday deadline, with their Mexican counterpart on standby to rejoin the talks soon.

Despite some contentious issues still on the table, the increasingly positive tone contrasted with U.S. President Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Canada in recent weeks, raising hopes that the year-long talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement will conclude soon with a trilateral deal.

“Canada’s going to make a deal at some point. It may be by Friday or it may be within a period of time,” U.S. President Donald Trump told Bloomberg Television. “I think we’re close to a deal.”