The former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon will not testify before the intelligence committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to sources – defying a subpoena requiring him to appear. The panel wants Bannon to testify as part of its investigation of allegations that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election in the United States, following up on his 16 January appearance that failed to satisfy some members of the committee. Representative Mike Conaway, a senior Republican committee member, told reporters on Monday that he expected Bannon to comply with a subpoena and answer questions on Tuesday.But a source close to Bannon confirmed to the Guardian that he would not appear. The source cited a lack of agreement on the scope of questioning between the intelligence committee and the White House, while noting Bannon’s intention to eventually meet with House investigators. In the meantime, the source said, Bannon would be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller.Two sources familiar with the situation also told Reuters he would not appear, which could leave Bannon facing a charge of contempt of Congress. Bannon could not immediately be reached for comment. One of the Reuters sources said the White House had not authorized Bannon to answer committee questions. During his 16 January appearance, Bannon refused to answer questions about his time in President Donald Trump’s administration or the post-election presidential transition, committee members said. The intelligence committee and the White House have not resolved the question of whether executive privilege would apply in Bannon’s case.Should Bannon refuse a subpoena from the House committee, he could be held in contempt of Congress, a federal misdemeanor. The full House would have to vote on that charge, however, and then it would fall to the Justice Department to prosecute – if it were inclined to pursue the case. Three congressional committees, along with the Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating the allegations of Russian influence. The source said Bannon would answer all of Mueller’s questions when he appeared before him, which was expected to be next week. Russia denies meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion between his associates and Russia. Topics Trump-Russia investigation Steve Bannon Trump administration news

Augmented-reality headset maker Magic Leap Inc. named Peggy Johnson, a top Microsoft Corp. official, as its new chief executive officer, as the company tries to shift its focus from the consumer market to enterprise customers. Ms. Johnson served as executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, a role in which she was the Redmond, Wash., company’s top deal maker, managed relationships with external partners and had oversight of the M12 corporate venture fund....

Mr. Comey, whom Mr. Trump fired in May 2017, had previously said the case involving Mr. Page was handled in a “thoughtful, responsible way” during the time he was the director of the agency. But the inspector general’s report found that, among other problems, the F.B.I. never told the Justice Department that Mr. Page had for years been providing information to the C.I.A. about his prior contacts with Russian officials, a point that might have made his history less suspicious. Over all, the report said the inspector general found “a number of factual representations that were inaccurate, incomplete or unsupported by appropriate documentation” in the wiretap applications.Mr. Trump seized on Mr. Comey’s admission to attack him.“So now Comey’s admitting he was wrong,” the president said on Twitter on Sunday. “Wow, but he’s only doing so because he got caught red handed. He was actually caught a long time ago. So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail? Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim?”But Mr. Comey noted that the inspector general did not find evidence of the most serious charges of political bias and a “deep state” conspiracy that Mr. Trump and his allies have leveled against the F.B.I. in the years since the 2016 campaign.He firmly defended the F.B.I., saying the bureau had been proved to be honest and apolitical, but “flawed.”

Theresa May has just faced yet another torrid period of Tory revolts over her Brexit strategy. David Davis was on the verge of resignation. Government MPs were publicly rejecting her customs backstop fudge. And Boris Johnson became so exasperated that he was telling his supporters that he wanted Donald Trump to take over the negotiations.It is now clearer than ever that May will fail to deliver the Brexit deal that Britain needs. She cannot command the confidence of her cabinet, of her party, or of the country. Instead of negotiating for Britain, the prime minister is lurching from crisis to crisis, increasing the risk that the talks break down, and we crash out without an agreement. We cannot go on like this.There are just four months left before the UK needs to strike a deal on our future relationship with the EU. It will be the most important agreement this country has struck in a generation. People’s jobs, their mortgages and their children’s futures are all at stake. So, with the government in such turmoil, parliament must be prepared to step in and take a more central role.This week MPs will vote on a series of amendments to the EU withdrawal bill. These changes could help steer the government away from an extreme and damaging Brexit. They could protect fundamental human rights, guarantee no infrastructure on the Irish border, and break the deadlock within the government over our future customs arrangements with the EU.Last Friday the government revealed its plan to water down the Lords’ amendment: to turn the meaningful vote into a meaningless vote. Not good enough. We must stand up for the principle of parliamentary democracy and not allow the government’s failure in the Brexit process to be a licence for the UK to crash out of the EU without an agreement. So, even at the eleventh hour, I would urge Conservative MPs to reject the government’s proposition and accept the Lords’ amendment.This is the most important week of the Brexit process since the triggering of article 50. After months of dithering, delay and government splits, there is a chance for parliament decisively to shape the course of the negotiations. A chance for parliament to have its voice heard. We must get it right.• Keir Starmer is a Labour MP and shadow secretary of state for exiting the EU Topics Brexit Opinion Article 50 House of Commons European Union Europe comment

Hong Kong protesters have clashed with police and fought off a group of men armed with poles as the city’s political unrest continues.A citywide strike accompanied by rallies in seven districts descended into chaos on Monday evening as thousands of protesters fanned out across the city, occupying roads, disrupting traffic, and vandalising police stations and other public buildings.Riot police fired teargas, rubber bullets, sponge grenades and pepper spray on protesters in at least seven locations, including a main area near the government headquarters. Residential neighbourhoods were shrouded with clouds of teargas and residents were seen yelling at police or hurrying away.In a predominately pro-Beijing neighbourhood, North Point, a group of men armed with wooden rods began beating protesters, in scenes reminiscent of an attack on commuters last month in Yuen Long by suspected gang members.One witness, a 33-year-old hotel employee who only wanted to give his surname, Cheung, said a group of about 20 men with wooden rods, some in white T-shirts, had approached the protesters. “Both sides were shouting at each other and they rushed toward us and beat us … hitting with wooden rods and eventually their fists,” he said.Earlier in the day, two taxis and a private car drove through crowds of protesters who had set up roadblocks, injuring at least one person. In Sha Tin, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, protesters grabbed bricks they had dug up and chased after a taxi that had narrowly missed running over demonstrators.In a statement on Monday evening, the police condemned the “violent acts in various locations” and said they were using minimal force to disperse protesters.Protesters threw bricks, shattering windows of a police dormitory in Wong Tai Sin, a working-class district that has been the site of serious clashes between police and residents and protesters for the last three nights. One group attempted to break down the gate to the compound while others shone lasers into the building.“The government is ignoring us. You might say what we are doing is violent, but I think it’s time the government pays attention to us,” said Herry Tsui, 25, from Wong Tai Sin. “They are so angry and keep firing teargas at us. We are just trying to protect where we live.” It is the ninth week of consecutive mass protests in Hong Kong, which is facing its most serious political crisis since the former British colony was returned to Chinese control in 1997.The protests, initially over an extradition bill to send suspects to China, have turned into a broader political movement for the semi-autonomous city. Protesters and other supporters are demanding the protection of freedoms promised under the terms of the handover, a policy known as “one country, two systems”, as well as accountability from the Hong Kong government, which ultimately answers to Beijing.In recent weeks, the movement has been fuelled by anger at the police for their tactics towards young protesters, often armed with just umbrellas, walking sticks and makeshift shields. Authorities appear to be taking harsher measures after protesters shifted their tactics by using guerrilla-style “flashmob” protests to evade capture by the police.The police had detained 82 people by the early evening, bringing the total number of arrests since protests began in June to more than 500. Police said the youngest person arrested was 13 and the oldest 76. Last week, 44 were charged with rioting, a crime that could mean up to 10 years in prison.The police condemned protesters for using petrol bombs, slingshots and bricks as weapons.“Things are getting more serious now, and more violent. The government is not listening and that is unacceptable,” said Chun Yee, 28, a piano teacher who joined hundreds of protesters who had taken over a mall in Sha Tin, where protesters and police clashed weeks ago.The clashes, which continued late into the night on Monday, came after civil servants, drivers, teachers, construction workers and others missed work to join rallies around the city – the first general strike in Hong Kong for more than 50 years. Swaths of the city were paralysed, more than 200 flights were cancelled and several lines of the MTR, the rail network serving Hong Kong, were suspended.“I am here to support the youngsters. They fight really hard for Hong Kong’s freedom,” said Camille Lam, 28, who stayed away from her administrative job on Monday.As the strike got under way, Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, addressed journalists after a two-week absence from public view, giving remarks that further angered protesters and brought more out to the rallies. Lam condemned protesters for damaging Hong Kong’s economy and stability.“Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain demands or uncooperative movement have seriously undermined Hong Kong law and order and are pushing our city, the city we all love, and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” Lam said.Joel Tse, a 25-year-old advertising industry professional, said: “I want Carrie Lam to come out and fix the problem, not give us some bullshit.”He said he had been on the fence about whether to join the strike. But after watching the chief executive’s press conference he had decided to join the thousands dressed in black, the signature colour of the protests, at Tamar Park in Admiralty, near government offices.Others who went to work said they still supported the protesters and their demands: that the extradition bill in question be withdrawn, and that an independent commission be set up to investigate police behaviour over the last two months.“This is a last resort,” said Cindy Chan, waiting in a long bus queue after severe delays on her local railway line. “The government doesn’t listen to the opinions of the people and later you can see it’s getting worse and worse,” she said. Topics Hong Kong Protest China Asia Pacific Carrie Lam news

A look at documents released by a U.K. lawmaker as part of a British parliamentary committee inquiry into “disinformation and fake news,” reveals how Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave select developers special access to user data and deliberated on whether to sell that data. Photo: Getty Images By Dec. 10, 2018 2:20 am ET SYDNEY—Australia’s antitrust regulator called for measures to curb the influence of Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in news and advertising and warned that a tech-sector watchdog may be needed to prevent abuses of power. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, delivering its report at the end of a yearlong inquiry into digital media, proposed changes to merger laws to protect smaller tech firms and said major companies should offer more search and browsing choices for consumers. That could have implications... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership View Membership Options

Environmental groups and politicians have raised the alarm about the policies of Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro.The outgoing environment minister Edson Duarte said during the campaign that victory for Mr Bolsonaro would have an instant impact."The increase of deforestation will be immediate," he told a Brazilian newspaper. "I am afraid of a gold rush to see who arrives first."Critics justify their fears by pointing to Mr Bolsonaro's comments during the campaign. He pledged to limit fines for damaging forestry and to weaken the influence of the environmental agency.An aide of the president-elect has announced the new administration will merge the environment and agricultural ministries. A former environment minister said the move will "bring serious damage to Brazil."However in an interview with the BBC, the incoming vice-president Hamilton Mourao said the Amazon rainforest would be cared for and laws will be applied. "We've been protecting our rainforest. I believe no country has done this like we have. Our environmental laws are very tough."Brazilians are waiting to see how the new administration might affect the Amazon rainforest. So how successful has Brazil been in protecting one of the world's most biodiverse regions, and what impact might these new policies have?The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, and 60% of it is within Brazil's borders.It is home to thousands of plant and wildlife species, as well as the indigenous communities who live there. It also plays a critical role in absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a vital contribution to maintaining the balance of the air we breathe and in limiting global warming.Cattle farming and soy plantations are the dominant drivers of deforestation, according to the Global Forest Atlas. Over the past half century, the forest has been cleared at an alarming rate. It's estimated that since 1970, around 20% has been lost. However, after reaching a peak in 2004 - when an area nearly the size of Belgium was being lost every year - the rate of deforestation has shown a marked decrease. Remembering Brazil's decades of military repression What are Jair Bolsonaro's policies? Brazil's swing to the right brings fear and celebration A Brazilian government project using satellite images to monitor primary rainforest estimates that by last year, deforestation had fallen by 75% from its 2004 peak. It has increased again since 2012 and persists due to illegal deforestation and logging. This slowdown in deforestation has been attributed to government policies including fines for breaking land use regulations, and sanctioning of the worst offending municipalities.International campaigns to stop the trade of soy and beef farmed on deforested parts of the Amazon have also been seen as having a significant impact. The environmental group Greenpeace has highlighted vast patches of rainforest destroyed to meet the global demand for soybean - used primarily as animal feed. In 2006 Brazilian and global companies signed a moratorium ensuring that buyers would not purchase soybean grown on deforested land. However, despite this progress, there may be signs that smaller-scale deforestation is on the rise.A monitoring project run by the University of Maryland measures primary rainforest and forest destroyed by fire, secondary forest (areas that have already been disturbed) and much smaller patches of land than those tracked by the Brazilian government.The project data suggests that deforestation is occurring at a much greater rate than that recorded by the Brazilian authorities. This discrepancy might reflect attempts by landowners to evade monitoring of deforestation by clearing land below the reporting threshold, according to a study in Scientific Reports."If left undetected and unmonitored, you'll have a scenario of the Amazon 'dying by a thousand cuts,'" says Michelle Kalamandeen, a conservation biologist at Leeds University, who worked on the study. Away from the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savanna is the heart of agricultural production in Brazil. It is a new battleground for conservationists in Brazil, who feel the Cerrado has slipped under the radar and its weaker regulations exploited. The vast area has lost much of its natural vegetation to agriculture and the rate of deforestation is exceeding the Amazon, according to an FT report. Recent pressure from campaign groups has put the Cerrado in the spotlight. Dozens of companies (including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and McDonald's) have signed the Cerrado Manifesto, launched last year, to work with "local and international stakeholders to eliminate deforestation and the loss of vegetation in the Cerrado".But it's not necessarily easy to control global market forces. Brazil is the world's leading producer of soybeans, most of it grown in the Cerrado.Demand for the bean is unlikely to abate, especially from China, which could become more reliant on Brazil after the US increased tariffs on its soybean exports. It's also difficult to predict what impact President Bolsonaro's government will have on the levels of deforestation. Although he has promised on the campaign trail to reduce regulations preventing forest clearance, he has yet to clarify these policies. His avowed disdain for the Paris agreement on limiting climate change may also yet turn out to be little more than campaign rhetoric.

HONG KONG — A Broadway anthem. A Bruce Lee quote. Nods to John Lennon and Quentin Tarantino.Legions of anti-government protesters have filled Hong Kong’s streets this summer, in the territory’s worst political crisis since Britain returned it to China in 1997. But even as tensions rise, protesters are being motivated in the streets (and on social media) by exuberant memes, slogans, songs and artwork.Like Hong Kong itself, the movement’s aural and visual iconography channels a wide range of Asian and Western influences. Here’s a look at some of the creative expressions and pop-culture inspirations that are propelling demonstrators through a hot, contentious summer.Nods to Japanese animeProtesters have released slick videos that promote their cause while paying homage to the Japanese anime film tradition, which often features surreal imagery and biting social commentary.In one popular video, young demonstrators march in their signature uniform — yellow helmets and face masks — as one carries a yellow umbrella, a symbol of the protest movement since 2014, when demonstrators blocked major streets in Hong Kong to demand more democratic elections.“No matter how difficult the road ahead is, we will keep walking forward together,” a solemn narrator says.In another video, a narrator reads out the protesters’ five main demands — including Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s resignation and full withdrawal of a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China — over a furious drumbeat, against a backdrop of street clashes.The clip’s cinematography evokes the aesthetic of popular anime, including “Cowboy Bebop,” a series by the director Shinichiro Watanabe in which characters fight for justice in a lawless universe.Hollywood riffsHollywood references infuse many of the slogans and memes coursing through the protests.One popular slogan — “If we burn, you burn with us” — is a defiant line delivered by Jennifer Lawrence’s character in the “Hunger Games” movies, based on the dystopian young-adult novels by Suzanne Collins.Another, “Ideas don’t die,” appeared on a poster commemorating a demonstrator who died this summer, alongside an image of the rain jacket the man was wearing when he fell from a building.That phrase seems to refer to a line in the 2005 film “V for Vendetta,” in which a masked avenger battling a totalitarian regime utters the line, “Ideas are bulletproof.”Another protest poster that has circulated online shows Mrs. Lam’s head superimposed over the body of the actress Uma Thurman, star of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” martial-arts films.In this case, the “bill” in question is not a person, but Mrs. Lam’s extradition legislation, which was the initial trigger for the protests. Mrs. Lam has suspended the bill and said it was “dead,” but she has stopped short of formally withdrawing it, as protesters have demanded.ImageThe Lennon Wall in Tai Po.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesEchoes of Czech dissentA recurring visual feature of the protests has been the so-called Lennon Walls, where people have posted hundreds or even thousands of slogans — mostly on Post-it notes — in public spaces across the city.During the 2014 protests in Hong Kong, demonstrators created their own Lennon Wall, papering a wall near the legislative building with slogans. And this summer, the walls seem to have sprouted everywhere, galaxies of Post-its denouncing the police, calling for more democracy and expressing frustration with Mrs. Lam. Some of the displays have been torn down by people who oppose the protests, but they keep springing back up.“Come together, leave together,” read one Post-it note in Chinese — evoking a Beatles song, though perhaps not deliberately. “No retraction, no retreat.”A hometown heroDuring street clashes with riot police this summer, some protesters have encouraged each other by shouting the phrase “Be water” (or spreading it on Twitter).That’s a reference to a famous line uttered by Bruce Lee, the late actor and martial-arts icon from Hong Kong, in a 1971 episode of the American television series “Longstreet.”In Chinese Taoism, water represents power and flexibility in the face of obstacles. “Water can flow, or creep, or drip, or crash,” Mr. Lee said. “Be water, my friend.” Many protesters see the line as a symbol of their civil disobedience, permeating Hong Kong society as water flows over a stone.ImageProtesters sang hymns outside the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong in June.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesA Christian hymnSome of the demonstrators who swarmed the Hong Kong legislative building earlier this summer sang renditions of “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord,” a 1974 hymn by the American composer Linda Stassen.The choice partly reflects how Hong Kong’s Christians, about one in nine of the city’s 7.5 million people, tend to be active in its pro-democracy movement.It’s also a canny strategic choice: Since mass demonstrations in Hong Kong require pre-emptive police approval, some protesters sing hymns because religious assemblies — which are not subject to the same rules — are harder for the police to justify breaking up.A Broadway anthemAnother popular refrain this summer has been the chorus of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the Broadway musical “Les Misérables” (which was adapted from the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo).In the play, and a 2012 film starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, “Do you hear the people sing?” is an anti-establishment rallying cry for demonstrators in 19th-century France.But on a recent evening in Hong Kong, Harold Tsai, a protester who was playing the song from a speaker toward a nearby police barricade, said that not all officers seemed to view the song as an antagonistic gesture.“Some of them sing it,” Mr. Tsai, 28, added. “I see their mouths moving.”

Thousands of Brazilian protesters have marched through the heart of São Paulo to tell their newly elected far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, they recognize his democratic election but will resist any attempt to erode their freedoms or rights.“No one is giving up! No one is giving up! No one is giving up!” the protesters chanted as they began an emotional 3km procession through São Paulo past graffiti-scrawled walls that bore the rallying cry of their movement: “Not him!”— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) October 31, 2018 Similar protests were held in cities across Brazil including Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Recife.In Brazil’s economic capital, anti-Bolsonaro protesters returned to the same spot outside São Paulo’s art museum where devotees of Brazil’s far-right president-elect celebrated his stunning triumph on Sunday night.Many carried handmade banners and signs with slogans denouncing Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper notorious for his hostility to human rights, minorities and the environment.“If you threaten my existence, then I will be resistance,” read one placard.Others carried less subtle rebukes: “Fascist pig,” said one. A second read: “Neo-Nazis No!”A mood of despondency hung in the air as shellshocked dissenters assembled on Monday evening for what they called the first public act of “resistance” to their extremist president who will take office on 1 January.One protester’s T-shirt was emblazoned with the words: “Everything sucks.”“It’s sad for us – above all as black people – knowing that you are now considered a target,” said Brenda Richele, 23, who said she believed Bolsonaro had legitimized violence against groups to which he was hostile.Tears coursed down Richele’s cheeks as she described her distress at having a president infamous for his racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.“What we are most feeling is fear: fear of what might happen, fear of what all this might generate.” Nina Gabrielle, 19, a transgender protester carrying a bright pink sign urging fellow objectors to ‘fight like a trans girl’. Photograph: Tom Phillips/The GuardianBut that dejection turned to grit as the protest swelled and its leaders urged those present not to lose hope.“We are here to fight and to say that we will resist. We won’t accept being killed or being treated like animals. We won’t accept being treated like a minority because we aren’t one,” said Richele.“I feel smothered,” said Nina Gabrielle, 19, a trans woman carrying a bright pink sign urging fellow objectors to “fight like a trans girl”.“He preaches hatred … [and] his supporters are attacking the LGBT community. So we are here to fight. Resisting to exist!”Addressing protesters from the top of a carnival float, feminist campaigner Carina Vitral said she had a simple message for Bolsonaro: “We will not be banished. We will not leave the country. We will not be arrested. We will continue to fight – on every single day of your disastrous government.”Guilherme Boulos, a rising leftist leader, said: “We do recognise the result of the elections … Bolsonaro has now been elected president of Brazil. But not Brazil’s emperor – not the owner of Brazil. He doesn’t own us.”“A president has to respect democratic freedoms. A president has to respect the freedom of protest, the freedom of expression. He has to respect opposition and not say that they go either to jail or into exile.”As protesters filed down São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista flanked by military police, some in riot gear, Bolsonaro made his first public outing since being elected on Sunday with nearly 58m votes. Brenda Richele: ‘It’s sad for us – above all as black people – knowing that you are now considered a target.’ Photograph: Tom Phillips/The GuardianBolsonaro chose an evangelical church in northern Rio de Janeiro where he appeared on stage alongside Silas Malafaia, a deeply conservative and firebrand televangelist who once called himself “the public enemy number one” of Brazil’s gay movement.“You can expect me to be someone who is committed to Christian family values,” Bolsonaro told the congregation.Emerson Bellini, a 35-year-old civil servant who was at the protest in São Paulo, said he feared Brazil could go into reverse under Bolsonaro after years of social advances. “We feel great anger … there were 80 million people who didn’t vote for him. People are worried about losing their political rights and the attack on our social rights that is coming.”But Bellini also vowed to fight back and wore a T-shirt stamped with the words: “Dictatorship never again!”“We don’t have the right to be downcast at such an important moment in our country’s history,” he said.

Brazil's far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro will merge the ministries of agriculture and the environment, an aide says, in a move which critics say could endanger the Amazon rainforest.Mr Bolsonaro's future chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, announced the new "super ministry" as details of the new administration began to emerge.The controversial new Brazilian leader is supported by the agribusiness lobby.A former environment minister tweeted that the move was "tragic"."This disastrous decision will bring serious damage to Brazil and will pass on to consumers abroad the idea that all Brazilian agribusiness survives thanks to the destruction of forests," Marina Silva said. Can Bolsonaro ride the 'Bullsonaro wave'? Jair Bolsonaro: The Trump of the Tropics? Earlier, Vice President-elect Hamilton Mourao dismissed environmentalists' concerns about development in the Amazon, saying the government would act responsibly by managing the spread of agriculture in the region.The Amazon region holds the largest tropical rainforest in the world and is home to plant and animal species that are still being discovered by scientists.Is the Amazon facing new dangers?Most of its millions of square kilometres are inside Brazil, where under laws dating back to 1965, landowners must keep a percentage of their terrain forested.That percentage ranges from 20% in some parts of the country to 80% in the Amazon.But a debate has raged in Brazil over the often conflicting needs of environmental protection and economic development.Earlier this year the supreme court upheld major changes to laws which environmentalists say will make illegal deforestation acceptable.Mr Bolsonaro, 63, has previously suggested that Brazil could pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. He says its requirements compromise Brazil's sovereignty over the Amazon region.In the run-up to the election he had suggested merging the agriculture and environment ministries, saying, "Let's be clear: the future ministry will come from the productive sector. We won't have any more fights over this."Warned by activists that such a move would undermine the environment ministry's controls on the commercial sector, he struck a more conciliatory tone saying he was "open to negotiation on that issue".Following behind-closed-door talks on Tuesday, Mr Bolsonaro's top economic adviser Paulo Guedes confirmed that an economic super-ministry would be formed combining finance, planning, industry and trade.It will be headed by Mr Guedes.Mr Lorenzoni also announced that Mr Bolsonaro's first foreign visits would be to Chile, Israel and the US. He described them as countries that "share our worldview."Mr Bolsonaro swept to victory in Sunday's election, easily beating his left-wing rival Fernando Haddad.The former paratrooper is a deeply polarising figure who has in the past defended the actions of the country's former military regime and said he is "in favour of dictatorship".His populist approach has led to some media dubbing him "Trump of the Tropics". Brazil's swing to the right brings hope and fear What are Bolsonaro's policies? Election drives wedge between friends

Draconiwrites:While thebitcoin pricehas recovered slightly to around $6,000, the 24-hour low was $5,721 per bitcoin from just under $8,000 yesterday.Forbes notesthat the bitcoin and cryptocurrency market as a whole "is now down a staggering $100 billion in the last seven days -- and has wiped out its year-to-date gains after starting the year at around $7,000 per bitcoin.""Previously seen as a possible safe haven in difficult times, investors now seem to be selling out to take back liquidity in case the coronavirus spreads even further," said Simon Peters, analyst and crypto expert at multi-asset investment platform, eToro. Bitcoin's crash was also a result of oil cartel Opec's failure to agree to a supply cut last weekend, sending the oil price to historic lows.

On Sunday night, John Oliver kicked off the latest edition of his late-night show Last Week Tonight with the latest developments in what he’s calling “Stupid Watergate II: Revenge of the Ding Dong Dingus.” Over the past week, President Trump and his toadying voices in the right-wing media have sought to undermine the credibility of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official and active duty military officer who sounded the alarm on Trump’s alleged “quid pro quo” call with Ukraine. And earlier Sunday, Trump even threatened to expose information on Vindman, an Iraq War hero and Purple Heart recipient, suggesting (without presenting a shred of evidence) that he is a “Never Trumper.” But Oliver, as a comedian first, was more interested in the ridiculous anti-impeachment memorabilia that Trump is hawking to his most loyal followers in his online store. “Incredibly, despite the mounting evidence against him, Trump still insists this is ‘The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History.’ In fact, his campaign website has now started to sell these ‘Stop the Witch Hunt’ T-shirts—an item of clothing that I’ve become completely obsessed with this week,” explained Oliver. Yes, Trump has begun selling merch that’s a play on the movie poster for the 1993 Disney children’s film Hocus Pocus, only with Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and Jerry Nadler as the three witches looking on over an orb containing Trump as… a flying superhero. “So, it’s a witch-hunt where the witches are the ones doing the hunting, which is categorically not what a witch-hunt is, in the same way a duck-hunt doesn’t mean a bunch of ducks hunting humans in the woods. Meanwhile, on the shirt, Trump is depicted as a flying superhero, which has no place in the witch genre, and the product description just confuses this issue further,” explained a chuckling Oliver. The product description of the ‘Stop the Witch Hunt’ T-shirt reads: “The only people scared this Halloween are Shifty Schiff, Nervous Nancy and Democrat Hack Jerry Nadler about their chances in 2020!” “So, to recap here: In this witch-hunt the witches, even though they are the hunter, are the scared ones—the only scared ones, in fact; it’s still ‘the greatest witch-hunt in the history of the USA’ but only three people are scared, and all of them are witches. This shirt makes no fucking sense!” exclaimed Oliver. “And it prompts so many questions, my main one being: Does it come in a man’s extra-medium? Because I’m going to want a relic to show my grandchildren in the future when they refuse to believe that any of this shit ever happened.”

A day after a lawyer for the whistleblower who raised alarms about Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine said his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the president tweeted: “Written answers not acceptable!”The surprise offer to Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower who spurred the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry, without having to go through the committee chairman, Adam Schiff.The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals. That call became the catalyst for the impeachment inquiry.The offer to Nunes did not please Trump, who wrote in a familiar vein: “The whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable!”During the special counsel investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump refused to be interviewed in person and instead submitted written answers to questions from Robert Mueller.The attorney Mark Zaid had tweeted that the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members “in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury”, as part of an attempt to stem such efforts by Trump and his GOP allies to unmask the person’s identity. Only queries seeking the person’s identity would not be answered, Zaid said.Trump’s Monday morning message continued a line of attack from the weekend. Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday afternoon, Trump was asked if he was “thinking about tweeting out the name of the whistleblower?”Trump replied: “Well, I’ll tell you what, there have been stories written about a certain individual, a male, and they say he’s the whistleblower. If he’s the whistleblower, he has no credibility because he’s a Brennan guy, he’s a Susan Rice guy, he’s an Obama guy and he hates Trump, and he’s a radical. Now, maybe it’s not him but, if it’s him, you guys ought to release the information.”Zaid said: “Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role. So we have offered to Devin Nunes.“We will ensure timely answers,” he said.Nunes’s office did not immediately comment.“What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian president is ‘perfectly’ stated,” Trump also tweeted on Monday. “There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!”The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, said on Sunday he had not discussed the whistleblower’s offer with Nunes, but stressed that the person should answer questions in public appearance the committee.“When you’re talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee,” McCarthy told CBS’s Face the Nation.“We need an openness that people understand this,” he said.Republicans view a political opportunity in unmasking the CIA official, who the intelligence community’s inspector general said could have “arguable political bias”. The inspector general nevertheless found the whistleblower’s complaint to be “credible”.Zaid said his team had addressed the issue of alleged bias with Republican members of the committee and had stressed the need for anonymity to maintain the safety of the whistleblower and that person’s family, “but with little effect in halting the attacks”.Andrew P Bakaj, another attorney representing the whistleblower, tweeted: “Let me be absolutely clear: Our willingness to cooperate has not changed. What we object to and find offensive, however, is the effort to uncover the identity of the whistleblower.”Bakaj wrote on Saturday that Republicans’ “fixation on exposing the whistleblower’s identity is simply because they’re at a loss as to how to address the investigations the underlying disclosure prompted”.The whistleblower’s secondhand account of the call has been providing a road map for House Democrats investigating whether the president and others in his orbit pressured Ukraine to investigate political opponents, including former vice-president Joe Biden.US whistleblower laws exist to protect the identity and careers of people who bring forward accusations of wrongdoing by government officials. Lawmakers in both parties have historically backed those protections. Topics Trump impeachment inquiry Donald Trump US politics CIA Espionage House of Representatives Republicans news

Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has warned that mass protests have pushed the region to the brink of a “very dangerous situation” as residents went on strike, paralysing the city.Lam, who had disappeared from public view for two weeks, gave a media briefing in which she condemned the protests for damaging Hong Kong’s economy and stability.“Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain demands or uncooperative movement have seriously undermined Hong Kong law and order and are pushing our city, the city we all love, and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” she said.On Monday, transport across Hong Kong was brought to a standstill and more than 150 flights out of the city were cancelled. Almost 100 outbound and 100 inbound flights were cancelled. Protesters also blocked key roads and stopped trains throughout the city.As the city enters its ninth consecutive week of mass protests, tensions have escalated. Protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas to disperse them. Others reportedly fought with local residents.In Yuen Long, the site of a violent attack on commuters on 21 July, a car rammed through a barricade set up by protesters, narrowly missing people trying to hold back the barrier, and injuring one person.Witnesses said a driver was stopped at a roadblock set by protesters near the Yoho Mall in Yuen Long. After an argument with protesters, the driver got back in his car and protesters tried to push against the vehicle to prevent him from leaving.“The driver ignored them and continued to accelerate,” said Derek Man, who was on the road at the time, with the protesters. “The tyres emitted a lot of white smoke. The vehicle broke through the barrier and knocked down one person and then he left the scene.”Protesters have shifted tactics beyond only marches and protests in the streets. Civil servants from more than 30 government departments, as well as pilots, teachers, construction workers, engineers, and aviation staff all pledged to strike on Monday.On Monday morning, several lines of the MTR, the rail network serving Hong Kong, were suspended as protesters, many wearing face masks and black clothing, blocked the doors of trains, preventing them departing the stations. There were also reports of discarded umbrellas being wedged in train doors to prevent them from closing, delaying services.Seven districts were holding simultaneous rallies, with demonstrators filling up parks, shopping malls, and spilling over into nearby roads and bridges.Thousands dressed in black, the signature colour of the protests, gathered at Tamar Park in Admiralty near government offices.“I want Carrie Lam to come out and fix the problem, not give us some bullshit,” said Joel Tse, a 25-year-old advertising industry professional who said he had been on the fence as to whether or not he should join today’s general strike. After watching the chief executive’s press conference earlier today he decided to join.At a shopping mall in Shatin, a district where previous clashes with police last month angered local residents, hundreds of protesters took over the high-end commercial centre forcing stores to shut. Crowds of protesters clad in black sat on the floor of the mall chanting: protesters shouted: “Hong Kong people, let’s go!” Elsewhere in the city, protesters set up roadblocks and paralysed parts of the public transportation network. While many of the rallies were peaceful, by late afternoon police had begun to clash with protesters. Police fired several rounds of tear gas and pepper spray at protesters who had gathered outside of a police station in the Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Some were beaten with batons, according to footage, and at least four were arrested.Monday’s planned city-wide protest, which is aimed to disrupt peak-hour travel of commuters, is the fifth consecutive day of mass demonstrations in the city. Simultaneous rallies were planned for seven of Hong Kong’s 18 districts on Monday. Hong Kong has not held a general strike in more than 50 years.Faith Tang, 30, a teacher at a language school, said the principal had closed the centre that day because so many teachers and administrative staff had stayed home. Tang said she joined the strike in order to force the government to respond to the protesters’ demands, which includes a complete withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill.She added that she joined the strike, “to stand with my fellow Hongkongers, to show support for our relentless fight for freedom and justice.”Commuters going to work said they were supportive of the strike, even if they themselves could not participate.“This is a last resort,” said Cindy Chan, waiting in a long bus line after her local train line suffered severe delays. Chan works in utilities and said she was unable to take time off from work. “The government doesn’t listen to the opinions of the people and later you can see it’s getting worse and worse,” she said.The city-wide protests began over an extradition bill to send suspects to China, but have turned into a broader political movement for the semi-autonomous city, with residents demanding the protection of freedoms for Hongkongers and accountability from the Hong Kong government.Flanked by members of her government, Lam said she had already responded to the protesters’ demands. “Some people may not agree with our response … but we have considered every factor. What is in front of us is Hong Kong’s stability and future and escalated violence,” she said.Protesters say police are deploying harsher tactics against them and trying to arrest more demonstrators. On Sunday night and the early hours of Monday, police clashed with protesters and residents in various locations, after protesters evaded and frustrated the police by holding flashmob demonstrations throughout the city. Police have arrested more than 60 people and charged 44 of them with rioting, a crime that could mean up to 10 years in prison.On Monday, protesters braced for clashes with police as they continued to stage disruptions across the city.“When Hong Kong people are going to the march, we know there’s a risk,” said one protester, Lam, who joined the strike on Monday. “Our tactic is ‘be water,’ and we don’t really know what exactly we are going to do next, as things change rapidly every day. We just do whatever we can and see how things go.”The former British colony, which reverted to Chinese control in 1997, is meant to enjoy a “high degree” of autonomy from the mainland as part of the “one country, two systems” framework, but residents say their freedoms are slowly disappearing under China’s influence.On Sunday, people blocked Hong Kong’s cross-harbour tunnel and another group of protesters surrounded a police station in the outer district of Kwun Tong, where they shined lasers at the police and threw bricks at the compound. Earlier in the day, after a peaceful rally in Tseung Kwan O in Hong Kong’s New Territories, protesters broke the windows of a police station, using a makeshift catapult to launch objects at the building.As fears rise that Beijing may intervene and quash the unrest, Hong Kongers have been watching Chinese state media carefully. On Sunday, Xinhua, a state-run news agency, published several articles condemning protesters, including one saying: “The central government will not sit idly by and let this situation continue.” Topics Hong Kong China Protest Asia Pacific news

California is bracing for the possibility of a devastating wildfire season amid the coronavirus pandemic.One nightmare sequence of events could have California hospitals filled with patients from a resurgent coronavirus while a wildfire in the north forces the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents and blankets vast areas in smoke — potentially making people more susceptible to the respiratory symptoms of COVID-19.Adding to this are the possibilities that crucial firefighters get sidelined by a viral outbreak at an operations camp and that the state’s troubled utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., shuts off power to millions of customers to reduce the risk of sparking blazes.“It’s a realistic scenario,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governor's Office of Emergency Services. “All of the above could happen.”Northern California, which just recorded one of its driest winters on record, could be especially hard hit this fire season, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles.After a number of early heat waves — including one this week — trees and plants are already so parched they have the look of mid-summer vegetation, he said. And modeling suggests that temperatures are likely to remain higher than average because of climate change.A paper that Swain co-authored earlier this year found those temperatures are also likely to remain higher for longer, perhaps extending the fire season until Thanksgiving.“The question of that paper is, ‘Is climate change increasing the likelihood of autumn wildfires?’” he said. “The answer from all of us was 'yes.’”It isn’t clear if this year’s fire season will be as bad as 2017, when the Tubbs Fire north of the San Francisco Bay area killed 22 people and incinerated thousands of buildings in October, or 2018, when the state’s deadliest wildfire on record, the Camp fire, left 85 people dead and destroyed the town of Paradise.But Swain said the state is unlikely to experience the kind of reprieve that it did last year — a projection backed by the number of wildfires the state has already recorded. According to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CalFire, there were 1,708 wildfires between Jan. 1 and earlier this week, or 700 more fires than during the same period last year.Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.“The main point is not that these fires were particularly large or damaging — because they were not,” Swain said earlier this year. “The extraordinary thing is that they are happening at all at this time of year.”If there is a major blaze in Northern California this year, the thousands of firefighters who respond to it will assemble at an operations camp. But the traditional setup — usually at places like county fairgrounds, with shared bathrooms, kitchens, tents or nearby hotel rooms — could easily become a vector for the virus.“If we’re still looking at social-distancing requirements, the footprint of a traditional base camp is going to more than quadruple in size,” said Michael Mohler, CalFire’s deputy director.Officials are still figuring out how to put these plans into practice, but they likely won’t know what works and what doesn’t until “we have boots on the ground,” Mohler said. Still, the department is preparing for the worst. One recent CalFire exercise looked at whether the force could still function if a virulent second wave of the virus knocked out half of its 8,100 professional firefighters.The answer was, “We can, but people aren’t going to go home,” Mohler said. “What is the greatest threat to life is what it would boil down to on a wildland fire.”Epidemiologists have warned that the virus will probably be around for a while. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last month that it would likely return in the fall — if it actually goes away before then. John Swartzberg, a professor emeritus of infectious disease and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the virus' impact could be magnified by the seasonal flu, which usually begins in the Bay Area in November. Add smoke from a raging wildfire, he said, and the result could make for a grim season.“The bottom line is, the smoke is going to make us more susceptible to COVID,” he said. “It won’t spread better, but people will have serious complications.”If such a scenario plays out, Ghilarducci said the state is prepared. Early on, officials recognized that the pandemic would linger into the wildfire season, so they held back a contingent of first responders — law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, National Guard troops and firefighters — from the state’s initial response to coronavirus. “We didn’t want to have large contingents of them infected,” he said. “Those are going to be the wave of folks who respond.”The state is also maintaining a stockpile of millions of masks, gloves and face shields, and reserving thousands of ventilators and extra hospital beds, he said.But what happens if an out-of-control fire triggers the kinds of evacuations that happened during the Tubbs and Camp fires? Instead of using gyms or other big spaces where large groups might be packed tightly together, Ghilarducci said emergency officials are considering using hotel and university dorm rooms instead. During a news conference earlier this month, he suggested these evacuation centers might be segregated into “COVID versus non-COVID.” But this also presents a challenge, he said in an interview Tuesday. “The reality is, unless you’re testing people coming through the door, how do you know who’s positive?” he said.Another lingering question is how the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., will fare this fire season. The investor-owned company — which provides electric and gas power to 16 million customers in Northern and Central California — declared bankruptcy last year while facing billions of dollars in lawsuits from wildfire victims who blamed a series of blazes on the utility’s equipment.The company has agreed to pay more than $25 billion in claims. Earlier this year, it pled guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter and one felony count of unlawfully causing the Camp Fire.During last year’s fire season, the company also introduced the widely loathed “public safety power shutdown” — sometimes dayslong rolling blackouts that have affected millions during high-risk fire weather. As the utility improves thousands of miles of distribution lines within its service area — a process one executive called a “multiyear journey” — it has described the shutdown measure as “the new normal.”A lengthy power outage while in the grip of a pandemic might seem especially cruel. But if the company does shutter part of its grid this year, the event might be a little less aggravating.In a statement, a company said PG&E is aiming to shrink the time it takes to turn a customer’s power back on, from 24 daylight hours to 12. The utility also wants to reduce the number of customers affected by shutdowns by a third. It's doing this by installing hundreds of additional weather stations and cameras, new transmission line switches and other fixes.Caroline Thomas Jacobs, a wildfire safety official at the California Public Utility Commission, said the company is indeed making improvements. "We are absolutely monitoring those improvements to make sure they're implementing them," she said. "But it all depends on the first [public safety shutdown] event and seeing how they do it in a live environment."

The Maldives archipelago, popular among luxury honeymooners, has become a playing field for geostrategic rivalry as China expands its influence in the Indian Ocean and the U.S. and India push back.Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who has steadily swung his country toward Beijing and away from traditional partner New Delhi, has imposed a state of emergency, jailed opponents and clamped down on protests to weaken his opposition, which is led by pro-India ex-President Mohamed Nasheed. ...

A workaholic who sleeps 3 to 5 hours a night … … who won support from China’s central leadership … … and struggles with protests at home. Carrie Lam is Hong Kong’s embattled leader. So, who is she? Lam is a devout Catholic who grew up in a working-class area of Hong Kong. After graduating from an elite university, she joined the civil service. She’s held 21 posts in her 39-year career and developed a reputation as a good fighter who could push through policies. In 2012, she became second in command of Hong Kong. As chief secretary, Lam faced her biggest test when China’s legislature unveiled a controversial proposal. It would allow all Hong Kong residents to vote to choose their leader, but only after Beijing shortlisted the candidates. How did Hong Kong residents respond? Universal voting rights is a key issue in Hong Kong. A 1,200-member election committee chooses Hong Kong’s leader. The city’s more than 7 million residents don’t get to vote. In September 2014, tens of thousands of protesters shut down parts of the city for months. It was called the “Umbrella Movement.” “Many people come out to join the protest to say that they want a real and direct nomination right.” In the end, the protest movement fizzled out. Lam presented an election proposal, but offered only minor changes. And the Hong Kong Legislature rejected it. In 2017, Lam became the first female chief executive, elected not by a direct vote, but by a committee dominated by supporters in Beijing, a system Lam supported. The opposition criticized her for not prioritizing the territory’s voting rights and its protection of democratic freedoms. In her victory speech, Lam pushed a message of unity. “It is through real work and actual results that I will respond to those who support me and garner the recognition of those yet to support me. Deeds speak louder than words.” As chief executive, though, she’s been a divisive figure. In February 2019, Lam introduced an extradition bill. It would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for prosecution. Hong Kong residents responded by flooding the streets with more protests. “Free Hong Kong!” Crowd: “Free Hong Kong!” “Free Hong Kong!” Critics said this bill would expose Hong Kong’s residents and visitors, including political critics, to being sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party- controlled courts. After months of protests and a public apology, Lam withdrew the extradition bill. But for protesters, it may not be enough. “It’s too late and too slow now. We are not satisfied with Hong Kong government just withdrawing the bill. The protests will continue until the day we have free elections.” With calls for demonstrations to continue, Lam’s reputation as a fighter will keep being tested.

Brett Kavanaugh lied about not being a source for the Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, but the Washington Post quashed the story while the supreme court justice’s confirmation hearings were ongoing, according to the New York Times.Media writer Ben Smith reported the story in a wide-ranging piece on the Post under the leadership of the executive editor, Marty Baron, published late on Sunday.Kavanaugh hit the headlines again on Monday as he and three other conservatives voted in favor of a hardline Louisiana abortion law which the court nonetheless struck down by a narrow 5-4 majority as Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal judges.Kavanaugh was Donald Trump’s second nomination to the court, tipping it firmly to the right.According to Smith, during Kavanaugh’s tempestuous confirmation hearings in late 2018, the Post was set to run a story in which Woodward outed Kavanaugh as a source for material in one of his books about Ken Starr and his investigation of Bill Clinton.Kavanaugh worked for Starr, the independent counsel who investigated Clinton’s affair with a staffer, Monica Lewinsky. In a letter to the Post in 1999, Kavanaugh had publicly denied being the source in question.According to Smith, “two Post journalists who read” Woodward’s piece about the affair said it “would have been explosive”, given questions about Kavanaugh’s integrity that dominated confirmation hearings.Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 Senate vote, amid huge controversy over allegations from multiple women of sexual assault when he was a student. He strenuously denied all such claims.“The article was nearly ready,” Smith wrote, citing three unnamed Post employees, “when the executive editor stepped in. Baron urged Woodward not to breach his arrangement with Kavanaugh and to protect his old source’s anonymity.”Smith added: “Baron and other editors persuaded Woodward that it would be bad for the Post and ‘bad for Bob’ to disclose a source [and] the piece never ran.”Baron did not comment but Smith, citing “people who work with him”, also reported that the editor’s opposition to the story “wasn’t about favoring Kavanaugh, or being afraid of a fight”.“Publishing the article,” Smith wrote, “would simply violate the traditional principle that sources should be protected [and] would veer into an uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing new form of journalism and, in Baron’s view, imperil the reputation” of the Post.With Carl Bernstein, Woodward broke the story of the Watergate scandal, leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974. The two reporters famously protected the identity of their main source, known as “Deep Throat”, and only revealed it to have been Mark Felt after the senior FBI official died in 2008.Woodward is set to publish a second book on Donald Trump. The sequel to Fear, a 2018 bestseller, will include interviews with the president.

A Wall Street Journal article on the potential travel-ban expansion suggests a different justification: Travelers from Eritrea, Sudan, and Nigeria are more likely than travelers from other countries to overstay their visas. But if that’s the case—as Tom Jawetz, an immigration expert at the Center for American Progress, explained to me—the answer is to train the U.S. consular officers who give out those visas to better determine who won’t return home, or to actually increase visas to meet legitimate demand. The answer is not to collectively punish the population of an entire country.But if the Trump administration’s real motivation is to decrease immigration from Africa, then collective punishment has a certain logic to it. For several years now, Trump has trained his nativist ire on Muslims and Latinos. The travel ban suggests he’s adding a new target, just in time for the 2020 elections: Africans.According to the Pew Research Center, the number of black immigrants in the United States has grown fivefold over the past 40 years. America’s immigrant population from sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled from 2000 to 2016 alone. Trump’s allies have noticed. In her book Adios America, which Trump publicly praised, and parroted, when he launched his 2016 campaign, Ann Coulter claims, “There were almost no Nigerians in the United States until the 1970s. Today there are 380,000.” This is a problem, she declares, because “in Nigeria, every level of society is criminal.” When 500 Congolese and Angolan immigrants showed up at the Texas border last June, Tucker Carlson warned that, because of “population growth … on the continent of Africa,” African immigration “could become a torrent” that could “overwhelm our country, and change it completely and forever.”Trump himself, according to The New York Times, vented in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that on his watch the United States had admitted 40,000 Nigerians who would never “go back to their huts.” (Nigerian immigrants are actually twice as likely to have at least a bachelor’s degree as Americans as a whole.) During an immigration meeting in 2018, The Washington Post reported, Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and nations in Africa as “shithole countries.” Soon afterward, the White House unveiled a proposal to remake America’s immigration system. According to the Center for American Progress, it would have reduced immigration from sub-Saharan Africa by 46 percent, more than any other region of the world.But while Trump’s animosity to African immigration isn’t new, it has never before taken center stage in his administration’s policies or his public rhetoric. Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign talking about Mexican rapists. He made building a wall on America’s southern border his campaign’s rallying cry. He responded to the December 2015 jihadist attack in San Bernardino, California, by demanding a ban on Muslim immigration. He made Central American immigrant “caravans” the heart of his get-out-the-vote strategy in 2018.

Inside the station it’s serious business as some protesters get kitted out. Some are carrying bamboo poles, others makeshift shields made from foam bodyboards, others are handing out masks. Knowing that the authorities could potentially track their movements on the public transportation cards, a few people are standing by ticket turnstile at the ready for anyone arriving clad in black.Outside, throngs of protesters gathered to block traffic while pointing lasers at apartment windows, saying those inside had dropped things on protesters earlier.Nearby, 33-year-old Mr Cheung, a hotel employee who declined to give his full name, said he witnessed an earlier attack just past 8 pm local time on protesters by men dressed in white .“Some of the residents told us, 20 of so guys in white shirts holding rods were standing at this junction. The information spread quickly over Telegram … some of the protesters headed to the police station they came back. Both of us [protesters and men in white] shouted at each other, and they rushed towards us and clung to the barricades and beat us. Then, when more of us came, they ran up that uphill road and into the building and are hiding … Residents say they’re the gangsters from Fujian and told us to leave, but as you can see the protesters are staying to defend and prevent them from coming back.”