Air pollution forced schools to close on Sunday in parts of Iran including Tehran, as the capital lay under a thick cloud of smog considered hazardous to health. The pollution level in the capital was "unhealthy for sensitive groups" and officials warned the young, elderly and people with respiratory illnesses to stay indoors, with sporting activities suspended. The decision to shut schools in the capital was announced late Saturday by deputy governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency committee on air pollution.

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In recent days, Iran hawks in Congress leveraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interest in a Senate run to win a key concession from the Trump administration that could help their bid to kill the nuclear deal with Tehran. Late last week, the State Department agreed to release a portion of an internal legal opinion that says the U.S. has the right to demand that all U.N. sanctions on Iran be reinstated, despite President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal.

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Climate activist Greta Thunberg has tweeted a photo of herself sitting on the floor of a German train surrounded by lots of bags — an image that has drawn plenty of comment online about the performance of German railways. Some Twitter users pitied the 16-year-old Swedish activist for not being able to get a proper seat on the train for the long ride home from Madrid, where she was attending the U.N. climate change conference. Others wished her a safe trip home after months of traveling by trains and boats to different climate events in Europe and the United States.

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(Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on a collision course with Scotland’s leader Nicola Sturgeon over the future of the U.K. Sturgeon says Scotland needs a new referendum on whether to split away from the rest of the U.K. but Johnson’s team ruled out another independence vote.The premier is preparing to re-shape his cabinet after winning a big majority in last week’s election. His opponent Jeremy Corbyn accepted responsibility for the crushing defeat his Labour party suffered, as potential candidates jostle to succeed him.Key developments:Minister Michael Gove rules out another Scottish independence referendum (8:40 a.m.) but Sturgeon says London cannot imprison Scotland “against its will” (9:30 a.m.)Johnson prepares to name his cabinet MondayPremier will outline government program in Queen’s Speech on Thursday.Corbyn says he takes responsibility for Labour’s heavy defeatLabour MP Lisa Nandy says she’s considering a run for the leadership (10 a.m.)Must read: Johnson’s Big Win Raises Tensions That Threaten to Unravel U.K.Sunak Sees Brexit Debate Before Christmas (10:45 a.m.)Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak said the government plans to put its Brexit legislation before Parliament before Christmas to ensure everything is ready for the country’s planned EU departure at the end of January.“One overriding mandate we have from this election is to get Brexit done,” Sunak told the BBC. “Our intention is to bring the withdrawal bill, the legislation, back to parliament before Christmas.”He said a budget can be expected “reasonably soon” after Brexit. He suggested Johnson is considering plans to reorganize government departments and the civil service to deliver priorities such as immigration reform and recruiting police. “How we do that, how the prime minister organizes government to deliver those things, is something of course he’s thinking about that,” Sunak said.Labour Leadership Race Heats Up (10 a.m.)The contest to succeed Corbyn is heating up with several names entering the fray. Backbencher Lisa Nandy told the BBC on Sunday that she’s “seriously” thinking about running after Labour’s “shattering” defeat in the Dec. 12 election, while the party’s justice spokesman, Richard Burgon, endorsed its business spokeswoman, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and told Sky News he’s debating running to be deputy leader.Also speaking to the BBC, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the process of choosing a new leader is likely to last 8 to 10 weeks and will “obviously be sorted before” London and local elections in the spring. He said neither he nor Corbyn would remain in the shadow cabinet, and suggested Long-Bailey, Burgon, education spokeswoman Angela Rayner and women and equalities spokeswoman Dawn Butler as potential candidates to lead the party.“We’ll have a new generation of leaders coming in who are incredibly talented, incredibly enthusiastic and now experienced as well,” McDonnell said. “My view is I think it should be a woman leader next.”Sturgeon Says Scots Vote Must be Legal (9:30 a.m.)Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon suggested she wouldn’t hold a rebel referendum on independence without the consent of the London government because it would not be legally valid. A vote needs to be sanctioned by the U.K.’s central government in Westminster.“A referendum has to be legal because it has to be accepted and legitimate if we are to win independence,” Sturgeon said in a BBC TV interview.At the same time, Sturgeon said Johnson’s rejection of a second Scottish referendum “won’t hold” because the SNP “overwhelmingly won the election” in Scotland, while Johnson’s Conservatives “got roundly defeated.” Scotland can’t be “imprisoned” in the U.K., she said.“You cannot hold Scotland in the union against its will,” Sturgeon said. “You cannot just lock us in a cupboard and turn the key and hope that everything goes away. If the United Kingdom is to continue, then it can only be by consent.”Lib Dems Probe Election Failure (8:58 a.m.)The Liberal Democrats are investigating why they failed to cut through in Thursday’s general election.The party went into the election with its leader, Jo Swinson vowing to cancel Brexit and saying she could be prime minister. But the party ended up winning one fewer seat than in 2017 – with Swinson losing her own place in parliament.“Clearly we must have made mistakes or we wouldn’t have had the results that we did,” acting Leader Ed Davey said on Sunday in a Sky News interview. “I think we didn’t get the other messages over about what the Liberal Democrats stand for. We didn’t get beyond the Stop Brexit message.”Gove Rules Out Scottish Referendum (8:40 a.m.)Cabinet minister Michael Gove ruled out a second referendum on Scottish independence, giving an emphatic “no” when asked about the prospect in a Sky News interview. “We were told in 2014 that that would be a choice for a generation,” Gove said. “We are not going to have an independence referendum in Scotland.”Gove’s comments set up a battle with the Scottish National Party after its leader Nicola Sturgeon said her party’s election dominance north of the border – it won 48 of 59 parliamentary seats – meant she had the mandate to demand a fresh vote.Gove also said the government will legislate to guarantee extra spending for the National Health Service, and that he’s “confident” the U.K. can conclude a trade deal with the European Union on time next year. He promised to put Johnson’s Brexit divorce deal to a vote in Parliament “in short order,” while refusing to be drawn on whether that will be before Christmas.Johnson May Fire Third of Government (Earlier)The premier plans to fire ministers and scrap government departments in a reshuffle of his administration planned for February, The Sunday Times reported, citing a senior person in government.As many as a third of cabinet ministers could be dismissed in the planned reshaping of government in February as the prime minister brings in new people to try build a “transformative” team, the newspaper said. Among planned changes include scrapping the Brexit department, setting up a department for borders and immigration, and rolling the Department for International Trade into the Business Department, the paper said.Corbyn Accepts Responsibility for Defeat (Earlier)Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn accepted responsibility for his party’s biggest electoral defeat since 1935, but also defended the policy platform he stood for.Writing in the Sunday Mirror, he described the result as a “body blow for everyone who so desperately needs real change in our country,” while he went further in the Observer, saying: “We have suffered a heavy defeat and I take my responsibility for it.”“There is no quick fix to overcome the distrust of many voters,” Corbyn wrote. “Patronising them will not win them over. Labour has to earn their trust.”But Corbyn also stuck to the lines he and his top team have taken since the scale of the defeat became apparent: people voted on the issue of Brexit rather than on other policies, and Labour had been subject to “media attacks” that were “more ferocious than ever.”To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 06:15:43 -0500

For centuries, the city has been a cultural and economic crossroads between East and West — and a flash point for conflict. Here's everything you need to know:Why are people protesting? Most of Hong Kong's population wants to continue to operate under the political freedoms it enjoyed during a century of British rule. The protests began when Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, appointed by Beijing, offered legislation allowing extraditions to mainland China, where kangaroo courts operate in secret and 99 percent of the cases end in conviction. Protesters believed that the repressive Communist government in Beijing would utilize the law as a means of prosecuting Hong Kongers for political dissent. But what began as peaceful demonstration with a single objective has mushroomed into a violent, six-month struggle over the future of the island. Hong Kong is often described as the city where "East meets West," with its Chinese culture strongly influenced by a long-standing British occupation. It's a tension that has been simmering for centuries, or since shortly after the first Europeans arrived in the area at the start of the 16th century.Which country arrived first? Portuguese explorers sailed into the area in 1513, and by 1557, Portugal had established a leasehold in Macao, about 40 miles from Hong Kong. Trading was brisk, albeit one-sided. Europeans eagerly bought Chinese silks, tea, and porcelain, but China was interested mostly in Europe's bullion, not its manufactured goods. In the 18th century, the Portuguese began trading a product that did interest the Chinese: opium imported from India. By 1729, addiction had become so rampant that the Chinese Emperor Yongzheng banned its sale and consumption. The ban failed, and by the end of the 19th century, nearly one-third of China's 300 million people were hooked. In 1838, the Daoguang Emperor appointed a viceroy, Lin Zexu, to solve the problem.What did Lin Zexu do? He wrote an open letter to Queen Victoria — a florid, rambling 2,700-word missive that demanded the British sovereign put a stop to the opium trade that had "caused every province of the land to overflow with that poison." The letter was not answered. Lin then sacked the European merchants' hub in the city of Canton (modern-day Guangzhou, located about 100 miles from Hong Kong). In all, Lin's troops seized and destroyed about 21,000 chests of opium, or 1,400 tons.How did Britain respond? At first, Charles Elliot, chief superintendent of British trade in China, ordered British opium runners to avoid Chinese ports; then he blockaded the Pearl River leading to Canton to ensure they obeyed his edict. When a rogue British ship tried to evade the blockade, a naval battle between British and Chinese ships triggered the First Opium War. The superior Royal Navy inflicted a series of defeats on the Chinese forces, eventually sailing up the Pearl River and occupying Canton. On Aug. 29, 1842, the Chinese ceded Hong Kong Island as part of the Treaty of Nanjing. Eighteen years later, the British won Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War. In 1898, with Western powers carving up a weakened China, the British secured a rent-free, 99-year lease on the third region of Hong Kong, an area known as the "New Territories" that comprises 86 percent of the city's 426 square miles and more than half of its current population.How did Hong Kong fare? It grew and eventually flourished under British rule. The New Territories became integrated with the rest of Hong Kong, and through a series of public infrastructure projects during the 1970s, the city blossomed into a world financial center. Hong Kong attracted banks and international corporations through a combination of low taxes, a stable currency backed by sterling, independent judiciary, low levels of corruption, and a world-class harbor, and as a gateway for foreign investment into China's vast market. That gateway became even more important as China began liberalizing its economy, which grew at a rapid pace.How did the Chinese take over? As the end of the 99-year lease approached, China and Britain negotiated the city's future. On Dec. 19, 1984, the two nations agreed that Britain would hand over Hong Kong to the People's Republic on July 1, 1997, and that Hong Kong would continue as a capitalist entity with guarantees of free speech and a free press under a version of English Common Law until 2047. China, however, insisted that the city would be governed by a chief executive appointed by Beijing. Hong Kong has since operated under a "one country, two systems" principle by which China controls its foreign affairs and defense but the city is otherwise independent. This has left Hong Kong in a kind of political limbo — half Western, half Chinese — with no easy resolution in sight. "On the current trajectory, another confrontation is inevitable," said Steve Tsang, director of the University of London's SOAS China Institute. China's rulers, he said, "just don't get it. Their default is to use repression, which will only breed more protest."When two systems become one No one knows what will happen when the deal negotiated with Bri­tain expires and full control of Hong Kong reverts to the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Party in 2047. Chi­nese Pres­i­dent Xi Jinping has made no commitments, although he did tell his party in 2017 that "maintaining lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao and achieving China's full re­uni­fi­ca­tion are essential to realizing national ­rejuvenation.... We should ensure that the principle of 'one country, two systems' remains unchanged, is unwaveringly upheld, and in practice is not bent or distorted." Some have interpreted his words to suggest an openness to leaving the current arrangement in place past the deadline, but he does have options. He could, for instance, allow the city to possess a version of the enhanced freedoms granted to other dynamic areas of the country — such as the special economic zone that includes the nearby city of Shen­zhen. But those freedoms primarily concern business, not politics. As China's Com­mu­nist Party moves deeper into authoritarian control of its population, it's hard to imagine it will continue to tolerate Hong Kongers' dissent and political independence.More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes

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