'Everybody is frustrated' over UK testing, top health official says

One of Britain's top health officials said on Thursday that everybody was frustrated that the United Kingdom was not testing enough people yet.

"Everybody involved is frustrated that we haven't got to the position yet that we need to get to," Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England, told BBC radio.

"We've got not as far as we've wanted to but we've got up to almost 13,000 tests a day being available," he said.

When asked about the 31% rise in the latest UK death toll numbers, Cosford said the day-to-day numbers were difficult to interpret on one day's change.

"My expectation ... is that we will continue to see an increase in the numbers of people being infected and admitted to hospital over the next two to three weeks but we should hit a plateau if all the social distancing measures are working in about two to three week's time, maybe longer."

(Reuters)

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Passengers removed from flight in India because UK national with coronavirus was on board

All passengers were taken off a flight scheduled to depart from the Indian state of Kerala for Dubai on Sunday morning after officials learnt that a UK national who had tested positive for the coronavirus was on board, an Emirates spokesperson said.

The UK citizen had been touring Munnar, a hill station in the southern Indian state, and was under surveillance after testing positive for the coronavirus, the spokesperson said.

He and his wife were a part of a group of 19 British tourists who were also among the 290 passengers removed from the flight at Cochin International Airport in Kochi.

"Fifteen minutes prior to departure we learnt that a UK national who had tested positive for coronavirus was onboard the flight," said the Emirates spokesperson. The 19 tourists and one Indian national were isolated at the airport, and the remaining 270 passengers took the flight to Dubai after a three-hour delay.

"The husband and wife have been sent to a local hospital for quarantine and further tests while the remaining group of tourists has been quarantined at a makeshift facility at a hotel near the airport," said P.S. Jayan, a spokesperson for Cochin International Airport. The Indian national was let go as he was not under suspicion of contracting the virus, Jayan added.

An American couple who had flown from London to Kochi earlier this month were apprehended at the same airport on Friday while trying to fly to Doha, after an alert was issued by a hospital.

They had visited the hospital earlier that day because the woman was suffering from diarrhoea. After examination, staff asked that they be tested for coronavirus and quarantined until the results came back. The couple left the hospital without taking the test.

They are currently under quarantine in hospital.

(CNN)

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Coronavirus outbreak worsens in Italy and Japan, as situation stabilizes in China

The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has surpassed 115,000, with the death toll reaching more than 4,200, as countries around the world continue to grapple with the challenges of containing the pandemic.

On Wednesday, China reported a slight increase in new daily cases, overturning several consecutive days of fewer new infections. The rise, from 19 on Monday to 24 on Tuesday, has been attributed to individuals returning from overseas, underscoring the difficulties faced by governments as the virus continues to spread rapidly across multiple continents.

Neighboring Japan and South Korea also saw an uptick in numbers Tuesday, with Japan reporting 54 more cases -- one of the biggest single-day jumps since the outbreak began, according to the country's Ministry of Health.

Authorities in South Korea, meanwhile, confirmed 242 new cases, bringing the national total to 7,755.

As with China, the infection rate in South Korea had slowed in recent days, bringing hope that the situation was beginning to stabilize. Though one of the world's worst hit countries, South Korea has been lauded for its widespread testing drive, which has so far seen around 200,000 people screened for the virus. However, new outbreaks linked to a call center in Seoul and the country's military are likely to alarm officials.

Western countries are also struggling with their own worsening outbreaks. The number of cases in the US has now reached at least 1,000, with numerous states declaring emergencies.

In Europe, cases have now been confirmed in every member nation of the European Union. Italy remains on total lockdown as its healthcare system struggles to cope, while nearby countries like Germany and France report alarming spikes in daily cases.

In a speech earlier this week, the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reiterated that different countries are facing "different scenarios," with each requiring a tailored response. "It's not about containment or mitigation -- which is a false dichotomy. It's about both," said Tedros.

(CNN)

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French football matches will be played in front of fewer than 1,000 fans until April

All Ligue 1 matches in France will be played behind closed doors or with a maximum attendance of 1,000 spectators until April 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak, French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu said at a news conference today

Maracineanu said the restrictions had been decided in coordination with European partners, adding: “We are in an exceptional context and the sporting world must take part in this collective effort. I want to applaud the sense of responsibility and the solidarity that world actors are showing with whom I am in permanent contact.”

The decision comes after Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 game against Strasbourg was postponed this past Saturday due to the virus.

Maracineanu also confirmed that France’s upcoming international football friendly matches against Ukraine (scheduled to be played in Paris on March 27) and Finland (scheduled for March 31 in Lyon) could also be impacted.

“If they can be postponed, they will be. If they cannot be, then they will have to happen with no more than 1,000 people in the stadium, she said.

(CNN)

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Recovering from coronavirus illness can take up to "six weeks," WHO official says

It can take several weeks to fully recover from illness caused by novel coronavirus, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of Health Emergencies Programme at the World Health Organization, said during a briefing on Monday.

"It takes anything up to six weeks to recover from this disease," Ryan said. "People who suffer very severe illness can take months to recover from the illness."

Ryan added that recovery is often measured by the patient no longer exhibiting symptoms and having two consecutive negative tests for the virus at least one day apart, but some countries may measure "recovery" differently.

To date, there is no specific medicine to treat coronavirus illness, but those infected can recover with appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms — and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care, according to WHO.

(CNN)

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This Hack Turns Your iPhone Into An Android - Thomas Brewster

Android 10 running on an iPhone 7, in a photo taken with an iPhone XR. A new hack will let you run Google's operating system on the Apple device, with support for more models on the way, according to the developer.

THOMAS BREWSTER/FORBES

Ten years ago, David Wang pulled off a remarkable trick, installing Android on the first-generation iPhone.

Now Wang and his colleagues at cybersecurity startup Corellium are doing it again with the ostentatiously titled Project Sandcastle. And Forbes got an exclusive hands-on look at their Android for iPhone product ahead of its public release scheduled for later this Wednesday.

The timing is sure to have Apple fanboys rubbernecking: Corellium is in the middle of being sued by Apple.

As preported by Forbes, in August last year, Corellium was taken to court over Apple claims the startup breached copyright laws by creating software versions of the iPhone for security and testing. The case took a surprise turn late last month when Apple subpoenaed Spanish banking giant Santander and the $50 billion U.S. military and intelligence contractor L3Harris.

But Corellium has lofty ambitions for Project Sandcastle, saying that it’ll actually show how Apple’s walled garden, which it has fiercely protected since launching its flagship phone in 2007, can be deconstructed and taken over by others’ software.

“Project Sandcastle is about having fun building something new from the sand—from the literal silicon of the hardware,” said Corellium CEO Amanda Gorton, in a statement sent to Forbes.
A Cheeky Potshot At Apple

“Apple restricts iPhone users to operate inside a sandbox, but users own that hardware, and they should be able to use that hardware the way they want. So where sandboxes create limits and boundaries on the hardware that users own, sandcastles provide an opportunity to create something new and wonderful from the limitless bounds of your imagination."

The release might also be seen as a cheeky potshot at Apple as the copyright legal tussle continues. “Apple has, for years, attempted to lock down the iPhone and iPad under the guise of security when, in reality, it sought to exclude competition,” says David Hecht, partner at Pierce Bainbridge and Corellium’s counsel.

“Apple’s dominance allows it to decide everything from what apps will be allowed in the market to the commission it charges developers. Corellium’s solution to run Android on iPhone will finally provide customers with a viable alternative to Apple’s App Store and iOS.”

How Do I Get It?

The hack is currently limited to a handful of devices: the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus and the iPod Touch, but Chris Wade, cofounder of Corellium, says more support is coming. And it may not ever work on any iPhones older than the 5S or newer than the X. That’s because the hack uses the checkra1n jailbreak to launch, which won’t work on the 11 model or above. If a new jailbreak is found, however, it could be possible that Android for iPhone will work on the most recent Apple devices. And given the underlying vulnerabilities exploited by checkra1n probably won’t ever be fixed by Apple, it should work in perpetuity for relevant devices.

For anyone who wants to try the beta like Forbes did, head to ProjectSandcastle.org and follow the instructions. The site only went up this week as Corellium is constantly working on updates to its Android for iPhone, so don’t expect the full Android experience for now. It’s Android 10, but you won’t be able to do things like use the camera or install apps from Google Play.

When Forbes played around with the phone, running Android on an iPhone 7 running iOS 13.3, the most compelling addition was encrypted messaging app Signal. This points to a more interesting use case than simply getting a kick out of running Android on an iPhone.

With Project Sandcastle possible to create an “ephemeral” phone within the iPhone, where everything you’ve done on the operating system vanishes on reboot and iOS returns. This is particularly handy for anyone wanting to have a sensitive conversation over Signal—once you’re done with encrypted calls and messages, you can erase all memory of them from the device and go back to using iOS.

Jailbreaks like Checkra1n can make iPhones less secure, as it removes “sandboxing,” which prevents malicious code from one app stealing data from another, among other security protections. It’s therefore worth considering what device, if any, you choose to install this on.

How Did They Do It?

Wang told Forbes that recreating Android for iPhone was no easy feat. Over the last decade, Apple has been upping the security of its devices.

“The big challenge was that the Apple hardware is both undocumented and nonstandard. Our team knows more about it than most outside Apple, but we still had to put in a considerable amount of work to build drivers for it,” he told Forbes over Signal.

One major issue was wrangling with the way in which Android handles memory so it was able to work on an iPhone, as Apple handles memory in different size chunks to Google, he says.

To build Project Sandcastle, Corellium’s team used its own tools, which can quickly spin up software versions of iPhones and Androids. Without that ability, if a hack bricked the device, they would’ve had to have switched to a new physical iPhone. But with their tool, they could just create a “virtualized” phone. Those virtualized versions are what have peeved Apple’s copyright lawyers, who claim they illegally replicate iPhones. Corellium has disputed Apple’s claims, and the court fight rumbles on.

Wang says he’s excited to see what the community does with the team’s work. “Even old devices could potentially be recycled without the issue of being locked to another user’s iCloud account or risking someone else’s data. We’re excited to see where the community takes it. We hope that it helps inspire other developers to keep pushing the mobile ecosystem forward.”

(Forbes)

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Iran investigation says Ukrainian jet was on fire before crash

A Ukrainian airliner was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 on board, according to an initial report by Iranian investigators.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport.

The report, by Iran’s civil aviation organization, cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at high altitude as saying the jet was on fire while still aloft.

The three-year-old Boeing jet, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Jan. 6, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed, the report said.

The technical problem was not specified in the report. However, a Canadian security source told Reuters there was evidence one of the jet’s engines overheated.

The crash occurred hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit.

Five security sources - three Americans, one European and the Canadian - who asked not to be named, told Reuters the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane had suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile.

In Kiev, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the government was considering several possible causes of the plane crash.

In a television statement Zelenskiy asked people to refrain from speculation, conspiracy theories and hasty evaluations regarding the crash. He also declared Jan. 9 a day of national mourning.

He said that he would speak by telephone with the Iranian president to step up cooperation into the reason for the crash.

(Reuters)

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Thousands converge on Barcelona for fifth day of Catalan protests

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators waving pro-independence flags and chanting “freedom for political prisoners” joined marches across Catalonia on Friday, the fifth day of protests against the jailing of nine separatist leaders over a failed bid to break away from Spain in 2017.

The marchers, some of whom began their trek on Wednesday from municipalities across the northeastern Spanish region, were set to reach the regional capital Barcelona later in the day.

Tensions between Madrid and Catalonia have been rising since Monday, when Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine politicians and activists to up to 13 years in jail.

The sentences set off the worst sustained street violence Spain has seen in decades, with clashes between protesters and police, posing a major challenge both for the Spanish government and pro-independence regional authorities.

The Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) said in a statement on that Barcelona’s Oct. 26 home match against Real Madrid, one of the biggest rivalries in the sport, had been postponed due to security concerns.

Friday’s marchers, ranging from families pushing prams to cyclists wheeling their bicycles, took over a highway lane and other major roads as they walked peacefully towards the Catalan capital, many sporting yellow ribbons - a sign of protest against the jailing of Catalan independence leaders.

Major roads were blocked off across Catalonia and several main streets in Barcelona were closed to traffic in anticipation of the marches, as well as picket lines that had begun springing up, while regional trains and the city’s metro were running on a reduced timetable after pro-independence unions called a strike.

(Reuters)

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China depends on foreign oil. The Saudi attack is a wake-up call

Last weekend's drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities sent shockwaves through global energy markets and the price of crude spiking.

While Saudi authorities have pledged that production will soon be back on track and oil prices have fallen, the attack underscored China's particular vulnerability to disruption in oil supplies.

As the world's largest crude oil importer, China's heavy dependence on other countries for energy has influenced much of its foreign policy. Beijing is trying to reduce that dependence, but the needs of its growing economy and a trade war with the United States have put it in an awkward position. It's buying more Saudi oil than it has done for years.

Less American oil, more Saudi oil

China has traditionally purchased the bulk of its oil from Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. But it has been forced to cut back on at least two of those sources.

Chinese imports of US oil plunged 76% in the first half of 2019 because of the escalating trade war and the threat of tariffs, according to data from customs authorities. Imports from Iran also dropped sharply due to sanctions re-imposed by the Trump administration on countries buying Iranian crude.

That gap has largely been closed by Saudi Arabia. The world's largest oil exporter has become China's biggest supplier in recent months, increasing its share of Chinese imports from 14% in 2018 to 18% so far this year, and overtaking Russia for the first time in more than five years, according to a report by financial data provider Refinitiv.

Last Saturday's attack, which knocked out about half of Saudi oil production, left China worried.

"We are very concerned about the attack's potential impact on the international crude supply and price stability," Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

(CNN)

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Saudi Aramco confident Khurais full output to resume by end-September

Saudi Aramco is confident full production will resume by the end of September from Khurais, one of two oil sites attacked on Sept. 14, a company executive said on Friday.

Aramco is shipping equipment from the United States and Europe to rebuild the damaged facilities, Fahad Abdulkarim, Aramco’s general manager for the southern area oil operation, told reporters on a tour organized by the state company.

“We are confident we are going back to the full production we were at before the attack (on Khurais) by the end of September,” Abdulkarim said.

Reuters reporters were shown repair work under way, with cranes erected around two burnt-out stabilization columns, which form part of oil-gas separation units, and melted pipes.

Two other oil-gas separation units were also hit and the piping network was riddled with hundreds of holes.

“We are working 24/7,” Abdulkarim said. “This is a beehive.”

The Saudi defense ministry said on Wednesday that the Khurais facility was hit by four missiles.

It said 18 drones and three missiles were launched at the other site, Abqaiq, the world’s largest oil processing facility. The missiles targeting Abqaiq fell short, the ministry said.

Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attacks but a U.S. official said they originated from southwestern Iran.

Tehran, which support the Houthis, has denied any involvement in the attacks.

Khurais produced 1.2 million barrels per day before the attack. The attacks reduced nearly halved the kingdom’s output, shutting down 5.7 million bpd in production.

(Reuters)

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Oil prices recover some ground, but economic concerns weigh

Oil prices recovered some ground on Wednesday after touching their lowest in close to a month during the previous session on concerns that a weakening global economy could depress demand.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 12 cents, or 0.21%, at $58.38 a barrel by 0425 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 gained 20 cents, or 0.37%, at $54.14 at barrel.

Oil prices sunk to a nearly one-month low on Tuesday following data that showed U.S. manufacturing activity in August contracted for the first time in three years and euro zone manufacturing activity contracted for a seventh month in August.

But global markets bounced on Wednesday after a private survey showed that activity in China’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in three months in August as new orders rose, prompting the biggest increase in hiring in over a year.

China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and largest importer.

“Given the tumble that we saw overnight it’s probably people locking in gains on shorts or perhaps establishing new longs in anticipation we might get an announcement from Beijing on setting a date for trade talks with the United States),” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.

A short position is when an investor sells futures in expectations of falling prices while a long position is when one buys futures to profit from rising prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned he would be “tougher” on Beijing in a second term if trade talks dragged on, compounding market fears that ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China could trigger a U.S. recession.

“Market participants are becoming increasingly worried about recession risk,” said Stephen Innes, a market strategist at AxiTrader.

“Moreover, given that tariffs present a significant threat to U.S. growth and in turn, the health of the global economy, oil prices will remain under pressure especially if trade and tariff war shows no sign of abating.”

Data due this week on U.S. inventory levels will be delayed by a day to Wednesday and Thursday because of the U.S. Labor Day holiday on Monday.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles likely declined for a third straight week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

On the supply side, Venezuela’s oil exports fell in August to their lowest level in 2019, internal reports and Refinitiv Eikon data showed, following tougher U.S. sanctions.

(Reuters)

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Pope heads to Mozambique to help consolidate peace

Pope Francis heads to Mozambique on Wednesday to encourage the country’s fragile peace, starting a three-nation African tour where climate change, poverty and corruption will also be high on the agenda.

The former Portuguese colony emerged from 15 years of civil war in 1992 but it was only last month that President Filipe Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party and the leader of the Renamo opposition, Ossufo Momade, signed a permanent ceasefire.

With elections scheduled for October, some fear violence may break out.

“He is coming at a time when we Mozambicans are trying to consolidate peace,” said Manuela Muianga, a biologist and disaster relief manager in the capital, Maputo.

“We Catholics feel that he is a visionary man who can help Mozambique to strengthen hope and make us forget all those things that make us fight against each other. The biggest concern is the fighting between the two parties. I’m sure he will address this,” she said.

Francis, who is expected to talk about peace when he meets Mozambique’s leaders on Thursday, mentioned his concern in a video message to the country ahead of the seven-day trip, which will also take him to Madagascar and Mauritius.

“I think he is going to give a forceful message to the country’s leaders about their responsibility to bring about peace and reconciliation, but also about addressing the root causes of the conflict,” said Erica Dahl-Bredine, Mozambique country representative for Catholic Relief Services.

Climate change is expected to be a topic in Mozambique and Madagascar. Deforestation, along with soil erosion, made Mozambique more vulnerable when two cyclones hit the country this year.

Francis, making his second trip to sub-Saharan Africa, will not be able to visit the city of Beira because of the devastation.

According to the World Bank, Mozambique has lost 8 million hectares of forest, about the size of Portugal, since the 1970s.

Aides say the trip is a key opportunity for the pope to renew appeals enshrined in his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” on environmental protection.

(Reuters)

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Trump shrugs off trade war concerns; China warns of market chaos

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed concerns over a protracted trade war with China, as Beijing warned that Washington’s decision to label it a currency manipulator would lead to chaos in financial markets.

Trump, who announced last week he would slap a 10% tariff on a further $300 billion in Chinese imports starting Sept. 1, said investment was pouring into the U.S. economy. He also pledged to stand with American farmers in the face of Chinese retaliation.

China has halted U.S. agricultural purchases and raised the specter of additional tariffs on U.S. farm products.

“Massive amounts of money from China and other parts of the world is pouring into the United States for reasons of safety, investment, and interest rates!” Trump tweeted. “We are in a very strong position.”

Ratcheting up the pressure on China, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday it had determined for the first time since 1994 that Beijing was manipulating its currency.

The move followed China’s decision to let the yuan fall below the key seven-per-dollar level for the first time in more than a decade, rattling financial markets and dimming hopes for an end to a trade war that has dragged into a second year.

Wall Street notched its worst day of 2019 on Monday. Major U.S. stock indexes were trading higher on Tuesday.

China’s central bank said on Tuesday that Washington’s currency move would “severely damage international financial order and cause chaos in financial markets,” while preventing a global economic recovery.

China “has not used and will not use the exchange rate as a tool to deal with trade disputes,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in the country’s first official response to the latest U.S. salvo.

“China advised the United States to rein in its horse before the precipice, and be aware of its errors, and turn back from the wrong path,” it said.

The Trump administration wants to continue trade talks with China and is still planning to host a Chinese delegation for further talks in September, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNBC on Tuesday.

Kudlow said movement toward an agreement could change the outlook for U.S. tariffs, adding, “It takes two to tango.”

He added that the U.S. economy was still in good shape and said he saw no signs of a global recession on the horizon despite growing concerns the U.S.-China standoff is slowing manufacturing activity around the world.

“The U.S. economy is very strong. The rest of the world is not. We’re the engine that makes it go. Frankly, I see no signs,” he said, when asked about the prospect of a global recession. “The economic burden is falling vastly more on them (China) than us.”

Kudlow said Washington was forced to take the currency move given a 10% drop in China’s currency since April 2018, and said other members of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries supported the action.

“At some point in time, if they are violating our laws, WTO (World Trade Organization) laws and, frankly, G20 laws of currency stability ... we have to take the action,” he said. “They brought it on themselves.”

(Reuters)

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Saudi Arabia women's rights reforms may still be thwarted by custom

Saudi officials have hailed as “historic” new rights granted to women in Saudi Arabia that further dismantle its heavily criticized guardianship system, but male relatives could still find ways to thwart these freedoms.

Thousands of Saudi women took to social media to celebrate royal decrees on Friday that allow women above 21 to travel without permission as of the end of August. Women also now have the right to register births, marriages and divorces, to be issued official family documents and be guardians to minors.

Experts, however, say male relatives can still obstruct women defying their wishes through legal avenues or informal routes in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where it will take time to change views on gender and social customs.

“We need enforcement of these laws and the establishment of reporting mechanisms when these policies are not being upheld, as well as watchdog organizations,” said Hala al-Dosari, a U.S.-based Saudi women’s rights expert.

Male guardians can still file cases of disobedience and absence from home against women, Dosari said. The government recognizes filial disobedience as a crime.

“These two cases, punishable by imprisonment and flogging, are representative of the wider legal control of women’s autonomy by men that still needs to be dismantled,” she added.

It would be especially important to see how Saudi courts deal with challenges by male guardians, said Tamara Wittes, senior fellow at Brookings Institution.

Riyadh has long endured international censure over the guardianship system that assigns each women a male relative - a father, brother, husband or son - whose approval was needed for various big decisions throughout a woman’s life.

Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, the Saudi police and judiciary have long cited social customs in enforcing prohibitions on women.

Some aspects of the guardianship system remain intact, including requirement for permission to marry, a legal necessity in many Gulf Arab states for Muslim marriages.

Some Saudi women still have doubts.

“Our culture and upbringing will prevent us from traveling without our guardian approval even if it is our right,” Riyadh resident Bodoor, who declined to provide her surname, told Reuters, motoring her mother around the capital after a ban on women driving was lifted last year.

(Reuters)

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Putin to Trump: We'll develop new nuclear missiles if you do

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that Moscow would be forced to start developing short and intermediate-range land-based nuclear missiles if the United States started doing so after the demise of a landmark arms control treaty.

The United States formally left the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia on Friday after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty and had already deployed at least one banned type of missile, an accusation the Kremlin denies.

The pact banned land-based missiles with a range of between 310 and 3,400 miles (500-5,500 km), reducing the ability of both countries to launch a nuclear strike on short notice.

Putin on Monday held a meeting with his Security Council after which he ordered the defense and foreign ministries and Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service to closely monitor any steps the United States took to develop, produce or deploy missiles banned under the defunct treaty.

“If Russia obtains reliable information that the United States has finished developing these systems and started to produce them, Russia will have no option other than to engage in a full-scale effort to develop similar missiles,” Putin said in a statement.

In the meantime, he said Russia’s arsenal of air and sea-launched missiles combined with its work on developing hypersonic missiles meant it was well placed to offset any threat emanating from the United States.

It was now essential, he added, for Moscow and Washington to resume arms control talks to prevent what he described as an “unfettered” arms race breaking out.

“In order to avoid chaos with no rules, restrictions or laws, we need to once more weigh up all the dangerous consequences and launch a serious and meaningful dialogue free from any ambiguity,” Putin said.

(Reuters)

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Trump blames mental illness, video games and social media for mass shootings

Donald Trump has blamed America's latest mass shootings on video games, mental illness and social media, after 31 people died in separate attacks in Texas and Ohio over the weekend.

Speaking at the White House, Mr Trump announced plans to try to deal with the problem, including working with social media companies to detect "mass shooters" before they attack.

Mr Trump again stopped short of calling for gun reform and instead focused on mental health support, saying: "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger - not the gun".

It came as hospital officials said two more people had died after the supermarket shooting in El Paso, Texas, taking the number to 22.

He called for new laws that better identify "mentally disturbed individuals", adding that those people should "not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement".

He called the attacks in Texas and Ohio "barbaric", saying they were "crimes against all humanity".

"We are sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed and the terror," added the president.

Mr Trump also called for the US to "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy".

He criticised the role of "gruesome video games", which he said "celebrate violence" and were "too easy" for young people to get a hold of.

"We are sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed and the terror," added the president.

Mr Trump also called for the US to "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy".

He criticised the role of "gruesome video games", which he said "celebrate violence" and were "too easy" for young people to get a hold of.

resident Trump said he had asked for new laws so that "those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay".

Last month, Mr Trump reinstated the federal death penalty for the first time since 2003.

The president tweeted on Monday morning to ask Democrats and Republicans to work together towards a way to stop gun violence.

He reiterated his request in his speech, and said the parties have proven they can work together on the issue, referencing the measures put in place after the Parkland shooting in 2018.

He added: " I am open and ready to listen and discuss all ideas that will actually work and make a very big difference."

At the end of the speech Mr Trump confused people by saying, "May god bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo and may god protect them," rather than in Dayton, where the Ohio attack actually took place.

(Sky News)

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Saudi Arabia allows women to travel abroad without male consent

Saudi Arabia has issued new laws to allow women to obtain passports and travel abroad without consent from a male guardian.

The move is a potential game-changer for women's rights in the kingdom, which has long been criticised for treating females as minors throughout their adult lives.

Saudi women have previously been required to have permission from a husband or father to apply for a passport and travel abroad.

In some cases, the male guardian was a woman's own son granting her the necessary travel permissions.

There have been recent high-profile cases of Saudi women fleeing alleged domestic abuse and the guardianship system, including teenager Rahaf al-Qunun who sought asylum in Canada in January.

Some Saudi women say they had to hack into their father's phones and change the settings on a government app to allow themselves permission to leave the country.

The new rules, approved by King Salman and his cabinet, allow any person aged 21 ofr older to travel abroad without prior consent and any citizen to apply for a Saudi passport on their own.

The decrees were published in the kingdom's official weekly Um al-Qura gazette but it was not clear if the new rules would take effect immediately.

Other changes issued in the decrees allow women to register a marriage, divorce or child's birth and to be issued official family documents.

However there are still rules in place that require male consent for a woman to leave prison, exit a domestic abuse shelter or marry.

Women, unlike men, are also not allowed to pass on citizenship to their children and cannot provide consent for their children to marry.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has promoted a number of sweeping changes as he drives an ambitious economic reform plan that encourages more women to enter the workforce.

He was behind lifting the ban on women driving last year, loosening rules on gender segregation and bringing concerts and cinemas to the country.

He has also led a simultaneous crackdown on activists, including detaining the country's leading women's rights activists who had demanded an end to the very male guardianship rules now being curtailed.

The women, among them activist Loujain al-Hathloul, are facing trial and allege they were tortured in prison.

The crown prince also continues to face widespread international criticism over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.

Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement by the prince, but a UN expert investigating the murder said there was "credible evidence" that he was responsible.

(Sky News)

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Acting IMF chief says ‘global economy is fragile,’ urging US and China end trade war

Acting IMF Managing Director David Lipton, in a veiled appeal Thursday on CNBC, called on the U.S. and China to come to an agreement and end their yearlong trade war.

Lipton told “Squawk on the Street ” that the global economic slowdown has been “certainly affected by the trade tensions,” though he did not mention the U.S. or China by name.

The latest round of trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies on Tuesday and Wednesday in Shanghai made little progress. Negotiations are set to resume in September in Washington.

Tensions between the White House and Chinese technology giants may also be contributing to the global economic slowdown, Lipton said.

“It’s time for the countries to have dialogue, to reach agreements, to try to find a way through this, since the global economy is fragile,” he said.

Global trade has been lower in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2018, Lipton said, adding that it’s a “time for vigilance.”

“Global trade is actually contracting, and that is not a good situation,” he warned.

Lipton said that if a global recession were to start, central banks, including the Federal Reserve, would be in weakened positions to fight it because of all the easy monetary policies.

Case in point, the Fed lowered interest rates by 0.25% on Wednesday.

Lipton moved into the acting director role after Christine Lagarde resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund. Largarde has been nominated to be the next president of the European Central Bank.

(CNBC)

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North Korea increases pressure with latest missile launches

North Korea fired missiles for the third time in eight days on Friday, a series of launches that analysts say are designed to improve military capabilities and pressure the United States and South Korea as they seek to restart denuclearization talks.

U.S. officials, who have been hoping to revive the stalled talks with North Korea, played down the launches. The North has been testing missiles despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s June 30 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where they agreed to revive the talks.

The diplomatic process may have some bumps but conversations with North Korea are “going on even as we speak”, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Bangkok, where he is attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

South Korea’s government said the latest projectiles fired by the North appeared to be new short-range ballistic missiles.

The missiles flew 220 km (135 miles) and reached an altitude of 25 km (15 miles), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul said.

A U.S. official said U.S. intelligence had detected at least one projectile, and possibly more, that did not pose a threat to North America. U.S. officials said initial information indicated they were similar to two other short-range missile tests by Pyongyang since last week.

North Korean state media said Kim oversaw the firing of what it described as a new large-caliber, multiple-launch guided rocket system on Wednesday. He also observed the launch of a short-range ballistic missile last week.

The launches appear to be intended to put pressure on South Korea and the United States to stop planned military exercises later this month and offer other concessions.

Kim’s government was assiduously improving military capabilities as well as signaling negotiating demands with the tests, said Leif-Eric Easley, an international relations professor at Seoul’s Ewha University.

“The aim is not only to increase Pyongyang’s ability to coerce its neighbors, another goal is to normalize North Korea’s sanctions-violating tests as if they were as legitimate as South Korea’s defensive exercises,” Easley said.

(Reuters)

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Trump hits China with more tariffs, sharply escalating trade dispute

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1, sharply escalating a bruising trade war between the world’s largest economies and jolting financial markets.

The announcement on Thursday extends Trump’s trade tariffs to nearly all of the Chinese goods the United States imports and marks an abrupt end to a temporary truce in a trade row that has hurt world growth and disrupted global supply chains.

Trump also threatened to raise tariffs further if China’s President Xi Jinping fails to move more quickly to strike a trade deal.

“I think President Xi ... wants to make a deal, but frankly, he’s not going fast enough,” Trump said.

Trump made the announcement in a series of Twitter posts after his top trade negotiators briefed him on a lack of progress in U.S.-China talks in Shanghai this week.

Trump later said if trade negotiations fail to progress he could raise tariffs further - even beyond the 25 percent levy he has already imposed on $250 billion of imports from China.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told reporters on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Nations event in Thailand the additional tariffs were “not a correct way” to deal with the bilateral dispute.

“Additional tariffs is definitely not a constructive way to resolve economic and trade frictions,” he said.

The news hit U.S. financial markets hard. On Friday, Asian stocks took a battering and the safe-haven yen jumped as investors rushed for cover.

Oil prices plummeted 7%, with Brent crude registering the biggest daily percentage drop since February 2016. The benchmark S&P 500, which had been in solidly positive territory on Thursday afternoon, closed down 0.9%. Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields also fell.

Retail associations predicted a spike in consumer prices. Target Corp tumbled 4.2%, Macy’s Inc fell 6% and Nordstrom Inc was down 6.2%.

Asked about the impact on financial markets, Trump told reporters: “I’m not concerned about that at all.”

Moody’s said the new tariffs would weigh on the global economy at a time when growth is already slowing in the United States, China and the euro zone.

The tariffs may also force the Federal Reserve to again cut interest rates to protect the U.S. economy from trade-policy risks, experts said.

Raising tariffs would lower the prospects of a deal rather than expedite it, China’s Global Times newspaper said. Beijing would focus more on efforts to survive a prolonged trade war, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-backed newspaper, said on Twitter.

“New tariffs will by no means bring closer a deal that the U.S. wants; it will only make it further away,” Hu said.

(Reuters)

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