Threats and Abuse Change How Female Candidates Campaign in U.K.

LEEDS, England — The campaign office is deliberately inconspicuous — tucked above a salon through an unmarked doorway in a 1970s-era shopping center. There are no campaign posters in the windows. Two cameras are trained on the entrance. The door frame was recently reinforced.

They are necessary precautions, said Rachel Reeves, the Labour candidate who has represented this area of Leeds in Parliament since 2010 and uses the space as both her constituency office and now as her campaign headquarters.

The death threats, abuse on social media and graffiti calling for “traitor” lawmakers to be hanged have changed her approach ahead of Britain’s upcoming general election.This is the new reality, she and other lawmakers say, in a campaign environment that has become remarkably nasty, particularly for women, who face a torrent of abuse and threats often laced with misogyny. And it is happening across the political spectrum.

“I do think it’s a very different atmosphere and environment now compared to the first two times I stood,” Ms. Reeves said. “People are a lot angrier and there’s a lot more polarization, particularly around the Brexit issue.”

 

source : https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/world/europe/britain-election-women-threats.html


Markets set to jump on positive Chinese industry data – live upd

Agenda: European markets to start December higher 

Good morning. European markets are tipped to open the month in the green following better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing results for November which gave Asian stocks a boost overnight.

The Caixin manufacturing survey for November came in at 51.8, its best reading since January 2017. 

Meanwhile, the pound tread water over the weekend to stay above $1.292 despite polls predicting that the gap between the Labour Party and the Conservatives is narrowing as the general election nears. 

5 things to start your day

1) High-Speed 2 officials are ploughing ahead with preparations for a £270m station in Birmingham despite the cloud hanging over the future of the rail link. Read why here

2) There have been few elections where the voice of business has seemed so peripheral. It feels as if the needs and interests of UK companies both large and small have been largely ignored by all of the major political parties. Starting today, we begin an eight part series featuring the voice of business from all of the UK"s regions and spanning all of the nation"s biggest industries. Today, Lucy Burton tests the temperature in the City of London.

 

3) The Lib Dems want to take a leaf out of California’s book and legalise cannabis. But can it work in Britain? Tech reporter Laurence Dodds looks at what we can learn from the Americans.

4) Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has given a temporary lift to the nation’s manufacturers but the sector is still facing an “uphill battle” next year, industry body Make UK has warned. Here’s why

5) A fleet of electric scooters and bikes backed by Ford is preparing to take to the streets in a dozen European cities in the latest phase of the car maker’s survival plan for the Uber era.

What happened overnight

Financial markets started December with a risk-on mood in Asia following a better-than-expected reading on Chinese manufacturing that added to evidence the global economy is turning a corner.

Japanese stocks led equity gains across the region, while S&P 500 Index futures edged up. Ten-year Treasury yields climbed to 1.81pc, and their Japanese counterparts ticked up closer toward zero.

Sentiment could still be kept somewhat in check by the continuing lack of closure on a US-China trade deal. China’s Global Times underscored that its government wants tariffs to be rolled back as part of “phase one.”

The so-called official China manufacturing purchasing-manager index exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey, and suggested an acceleration in activity in November. A private gauge released Monday also showed an increase.

Coming up today

 v The reporting wind-down heading into the Christmas period continues this week, but there are still a handful of interesting companies reporting.

source : https://news.yahoo.com/markets-live-latest-news-pound-072758084.html


‘Phase one’ deal unlikely to be a real victory for China or the

As investors await further developments in U.S.-China trade deal, an economics expert told CNBC Wednesday that the signing of a phase one trade deal between won’t be a real victory for either side.

Speaking to CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe,” Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at London School of Economics, described the phase one agreement as a “face deal” that would allow both sides to say they’ve made some progress.

“It’s kind of a big gift for President Trump because we’ve seen the stock markets really,” she said. “But the phase one deal’s really about the resolvable negotiable stuff in the first place — the more difficult non-negotiable items are put back, delayed, and we don’t really know what’s going to come out of that. So unless old tariffs can be rolled back for China it can’t really be seen as avictory for them, or much for the U.S. because the more intractable problems are still there.”

She added that even some of the more difficult issues that had been negotiated in the deal — like those surrounding intellectual property and the opening up of Chinese markets — didn’t mark a huge breakthrough.

“That’s what the Chinese want to do anyway, it’s consistent with their longer-term goals,” Jin explained. “There’s so much of a focus on technology and innovation these days coming from the government, coming from the private sector, (intellectual property) protection is absolutely critical.”

According to Jin, however, even if China agrees to make concessions around certain laws or regulations, it may still take a while for tangible change to be delivered.

“There’s a difference between what’s written in the law and actual enforcement. Lots of things are written in the law, the legal system is quite comprehensive, the patent protection mechanism is there, it’s really about enforcement,” she said.

“Enforcement is tricky because it involves a lot of local government, local private firms, that the central government doesn’t have a complete control over. They are taking substantive steps to make sure that enforcement will also take place, but that will take time,” Jin added.

“If we’re talking about wanting the Chinese to change their developed model, reducing the state influence, I think that’s more of a no-go area. And by the way, it’s a false dichotomy to separate the state and the private — they are collaborating, merging, working together on all fronts and that is not going to change.”

Investors around the world have been eagerly awaiting the signing of a trade agreement since Trump said in October that the U.S. had come to a “very substantial phase one deal” with China.

While markets have experienced volatility on the back of news related to the deal, sentiment has been lifted in recent days. Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. and China were in the “final throes” of negotiations, while China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that both sides had discussed “resolving core issues” on Tuesday.

Some analysts weighing in on the phase one deal have agreed with Jin that the signing of the deal would largely be a political win.

 

Speaking to CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Friday, Stephen Roach, senior lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, slammed the deal as “hollow” and “flawed,” adding that it was “politically expedient” and would fail to address the structural issues that sparked the trade conflict.

“China has politics the same as the U.S. has politics,” Steve Okun, senior advisor at consultancy McLarty Associates, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday. “Xi has to worry about his internal politics, he has to worry about his standing within the party.”

Lu Yu of Allianz Global Investors also told CNBC recently that the phase one deal would not be a significant breakthrough in the conflict, describing it as simply a “pause” in the trade war, while former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told CNBC earlier this month the deal would not mark the beginning of “some kind of economic nirvana.”

Others, however, have been more optimistic on the economic implications of a preliminary deal being finalized.

King Lip of Baker Avenue Asset Management told CNBC he was optimistic the phase one deal would be “a positive for both sides” economically.

 

source : https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/28/phase-one-deal-wont-be-a-real-victory-for-china-or-us-economist-says.html


Mother of slain man sues Cleveland mayor, police chief

CLEVELAND - Questions about whether an Ohio mayor intervened on behalf of his grandson in the hours after a fatal shooting have prompted the victim’s mother to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the mayor and the city’s police chief.

Andrea Parra sued Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams earlier this month in state court. The lawsuit said the two suspects in the slaying of 30-year-old Antonio Parra this summer were members of a gang connected to Jackson’s 22-year-old grandson, Frank Q. Jackson.

A county prosecutor has said Frank Q. Jackson is a suspect in the slaying.

According to the complaint, Antonio Parra called his mother Aug. 28 to say he had been hired at a popular Cleveland restaurant. Andrea Parra saw the job as an important step in her son getting his life in order after years of scrapes with the law.

Later that day, Antonio Parra was shot multiple times by two men wearing black hooded sweatshirts as he stood on a sidewalk. Andrea Parra’s attorney, Peter Pattakos, said it appears Antonio Parra was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I know from the bottom of my heart that he wasn’t caught up in any gang activity,” Andrea Parra said in a statement.

The lawsuit, citing media reports, said the assailants drove off in a car registered to Frank Q. Jackson. Officers went to the mayor’s home after the slaying where they questioned and arrested a juvenile. The mayor told officers his grandson would not answer questions and asked them to turn off their body cameras, the lawsuit said.

An attorney for Frank Q. Jackson told detectives the next day that his client would not answer questions, the lawsuit said.

 

source 


Kaepernick will showcase his skills to NFL teams this afternoon

Colin Kaepernick will finally get a chance Saturday to show his stuff again to NFL teams — after nearly a three-year wait.

On a practice field near Atlanta, the 32-year-old free agent quarterback will have about two hours to demonstrate his skills.
At least 11 teams will send personnel to watch the league-arranged workout at the Atlanta Falcons" practice facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia, the NFL said Thursday. Other teams can review the workout on video the NFL will provide.
As of Thursday, the teams that said they were sending personnel were Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Miami, New England, New York Giants, New York Jets, Tampa Bay and Washington, the NFL said.

The closed session will begin at 3 p.m. ET, a source with direct knowledge told CNN. The timeline:
• Interview, 3:15 p.m.
• Measurements, stretching and warmups
• Timing and testing, 3:50 p.m. That include sprints and a strength test
• Quarterback drills, 4:15 p.m.
The NFL said former coach Hue Jackson will lead the workout.
Of the teams committed to the workout and interview session, most, and probably all, will send directors of player personnel and scouts who rate NFL players. Those are the people who would typically evaluate a back-up player — in this case a second- or third-string quarterback.
Kaepernick, who claimed the NFL and its teams colluded to keep him from playing following his refusal to stand during the National Anthem, tweeted Tuesday he"s ready.
"I"ve been in shape and ready for this for 3 years, can"t wait to see the head coaches and GMs on Saturday."

NFL told teams about work out Tuesday

The NFL sent a memo Tuesday about the workout for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback to its 32 teams, ESPN first reported.
The event will be closed to media.
According to another source, several NFL teams inquired about the athlete-turned-activist"s "football readiness" and desire to return to the league.
Kaepernick hasn"t played in the league since the 2016 season — the same season he first sat during the playing of the anthem. The protest evolved into kneeling after onetime Seattle Seahawk and Green Beret Nate Boyer convinced Kaepernick it would be more respectful to the nation"s military, the quarterback has said.
Kaepernick said he did so to protest police shootings of African American men and other social injustices faced by black people in the United States.
Kaepernick became a free agent in 2017. No team offered him a contract, and that October, he filed a grievance against the league, accusing team owners of colluding to keep him from being signed. The NFL denied any collusion. Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid, who knelt with Kaepernick, settled their cases.
Earlier this year, Kaepernick posted videos of himself on Twitter, taking part in weight training and throwing footballs.
Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the 2013 Super Bowl, played his last game on January 1, 2017, in the 49ers" loss to the Seattle Seahawks. During that season, in which the 49ers were 2-14, Kaepernick threw 16 touchdowns and had four interceptions. He rushed for 468 yards on 69 attempts.
He opted out of his contract after the season and has been a free agent since.