DPRK media steps up criticism of U.S. for “interference” in inter-Korean affairs, By Dagyum Ji
North Korean outlets accuse Washington of “autocratic interference,” call for sanctions relief.
North Korean state-run media has in recent days ratcheted up criticism of the U.S. for interfering in inter-Korean economic cooperation projects and its reported opposition to a recent North-South military agreement.
Pyongyang’s DPRK Today on Monday denounced the Trump administration for “putting the brakes” on the South Korean government’s attempts to implement September’s Pyongyang Joint Declaration.
The outlet reported that the U.S. had “outspokenly expressed its intention to oppose” the September inter-Korean military agreement.
Washington had also “ruthlessly ignored” calls from Seoul to approve a joint on-site survey for rail and road cooperation, it continued, and refused to grant exemptions from international sanctions that would allow the resumption of Mount Kumgang tourism and work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
Washington had disregarded South Korea’s requests citing the “complete implementation of UN ‘sanctions resolution,’’’ the media said, in a commentary headlined “Autocratic interference in the form of ‘alliance’.”
Seoul and Pyongyang at high-level talks held last Monday agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the connection and modernization of cross-border railways and roads between late November and early December.
To that end, the two Koreas plan to conduct a joint on-site survey of the Gyeongui railway and the Donghae railway respectively from late October and early November – a move which requires approval from the United Nations Command (UNC).
August, however, saw the UNC disallow South Korean trains from crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) to conduct a joint on-site survey of sections of track between Munsan and Kaesong.
“Such U.S. behavior show that it regards South Korea just as a colony and its puppet although the country outwardly says the ‘strengthening of the ROK-U.S. alliance’ and ‘watertight cooperation’,” the DPRK Today said.
“But what went on behind the scenes was not mutual respect and cooperation but the ruler’s outrageous coercion and tyranny with domination and interference.”
North Korean media also condemned President Donald Trump’s comments last week that Seoul would not be able to lift its unilateral May 24 sanctions “without our approval.”
“Whenever an opportunity was created to improve inter-Korean relations due to our active efforts, the U.S. was displeased with it and used any means to destroy it,” DPRK Today said.
“There is no end if we list such practical examples,” it continued. “The U.S. strengthens its criticism and pressure, expressing its discomfort over the South Korean authorities’ stance on North Korea as an anti-unification scheme.”
Two Koreas to hold general-level military talks on Friday, By Dagyum Ji
Pyongyang, Seoul to discuss continued implementation of September agreement: MND.
The two Koreas will hold general-level talks this Friday on the implementation of September’s military agreement, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced on Monday.
Friday’s talks will begin at 1000 local time and will be held at Tongilgak on the northern side of Panmunjom, the MND said, and will see the two sides discuss the Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain, signed as an annex to the Pyongyang Joint Declaration in September.
Friday’s meeting will be the third of its kind this year since inter-Korean general-grade military talks in June and July.In its statement, the defense ministry said the two Koreas will make an interim evaluation on the implementation of the military agreement and discuss a timeline for next steps.
Other topics for discussion include the establishment and operation method of a planned inter-Korean Joint Military Committee aimed at reducing tensions.
The North and South Korean military on Friday also plan to discuss measures for the shared use of Han River (Imjin River) Estuary, in accordance with the military agreement.
Under the plans, a stretch of 70 km within the Han River Estuary will be designated a joint utilization zone, with “all practical military issues” arising from the area to be handled through consultation between the two Koreas.
Seoul and Pyongyang plan to conduct a joint field survey of the joint utilization zone by the end of the year.The two Koreas at high-level talks last Monday agreed to hold general-level military talks “at an early date.”The South Korean defense ministry said Seoul had proposed the talks and Pyongyang had accepted.
Seoul and Pyongyang will dispatch five-member delegations, with head of the North Korea Policy Bureau at the ROK defense ministry Kim Do-gyun and Army Lieutenant General of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) An Ik San serving as chief delegates for their respective sides.
Both Kim and An have engaged in the general-level military talks this year in the capacity of chief delegate.Kim — who served as presidential secretary for national defense reform until May — participated in inter-Korean working-level military talks in February 2011 and high-level talks in February 2014.An previously served as the chief delegate to the first and second inter-Korean general-level military talks in 2004.
Meanwhile, the second round of trilateral meetings between the North, the South, and the UNC began at Freedom House on the southern part of Panmunjom at 1000 local time, the ROK defense ministry announced on Monday. The three parties plan to assess ongoing mine clearance efforts in the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, which they previously agreed to have finished by October 20.
The MND said the trilateral consultative body will discuss “practical issues including the schedule for withdrawal of firearms and guardposts, measures to adjust the number of guard duty personnel, and plan to proceed with joint verification.”
U.S. and South Korea agree to suspend Vigilant Ace drills, By Leo Byrne
The move will “give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue” DOD says.
Correction at 1720 KST on 23/10: A previous version of this article said Mattis had said in June that there were no further plans to pause other joint exercises, when it fact he said this in August. It has been amended to reflect this.
Washington and Seoul on Friday agreed to suspend the Vigilant Ace joint military exercises in light of the ongoing diplomatic outreach with North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo agreed to the suspension while attending the annual ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus in the Philippines.
It’s hoped the suspension will “give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue,” Pentagon press secretary Dana White said in a statement carried to U.S. media.“Both ministers are committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of our forces. They pledged to maintain close coordination and evaluate future exercises,” White added.
Earlier this year Washington also suspended the large-scale Ulchi Freeedom Guardian joint exercises and two exchange program training exercises, giving a similar explanation to Friday’s suspension.“To support implementing the outcomes of the Singapore Summit, and in coordination with our Republic of Korea ally, Secretary Mattis has indefinitely suspended select exercises,” White said at the time.“This includes suspending FREEDOM GUARDIAN along with two Korean Marine Exchange Program training exercises scheduled to occur in the next three months.”
The most recent suspension comes despite Mattis saying in August that there were no further plans to pause other joint exercises.The Vigilant Ace joint exercises are primarily air power exercises though typically ground troops are also involved.
According to the Defense Post, last year’s drills involved over 230 aircraft including F22 Raptor stealth jet fighters.The announcement follows earlier news from Seoul that the U.S. and South Korea would resume joint ROK-U.S. Korean Marine Exchange Program (KMEP) military drills next year.
Though the KMEP training exercises were originally slated to be staged 19 times this year, the number of the drills was eventually reduced to 11 in light of ongoing DPRK-U.S. and inter-Korean dialogue, the South Korean military confirmed to NK News on Friday.2016 and 2017 saw the KMEP training exercises be conducted 14 and 17 times respectively, the ROK military added.
During the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. also said they would work together on preventing North Korean ship-to-ship transfers at sea.South Korea is not currently part of efforts to enforce UN resolutions at sea which prohibit North Korea from transferring fuel or other cargos directly from one vessel to another, but no further details on Seoul’s contributions to the enforcement efforts were available.
Currently, the U.S., the UK, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand have contributed military assets to track North Korea’s illicit activities in the waters around the Korean Peninsula and northeast China.
U.S. may invite DPRK foreign minister to DC for summit preparation meeting, By Chad O’Carroll
State Department does not confirm possible Washington meeting, however.
The United States may host its DPRK “counterpart” in Washington DC soon to facilitate preparations for a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a U.S. broadcaster about a potential meeting on Friday amid news that a second summit would most likely take place in early 2019.
“I’m very hopeful we’ll have senior leader meetings here in the next week and a half or so between myself and my counterpart to continue this discussion so that when the two of them get together, there is real opportunity to make another big step forward on denuclearization,” Pompeo told the Voice of America on Friday. Though Pompeo didn’t specify it would be Washington, it is the most likely interpretation given it is the usual location of his day-to-day work.
Technically, Pompeo’s counterpart would be DPRK foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, though it is possible he may also be referring to Kim Yong Chol, who has been one of his regular DPRK interlocutors.
Pompeo said, however, that he was not “prepared” to share details as to when any second summit may take place, but that the “president’s committed to doing that”.“We’re working on finding dates and times and places that will work for each of the two leaders.”
Pompeo made the remark en route to Mexico City as a senior U.S. official was quoted Friday by Reuters as saying that “a (summit) meeting is likely sometime after the first of the year”.
Pompeo last met his foreign ministry counterpart Ri Yong Ho during the United Nations General Assembly in September.But while he expressed hope to VOA about a potential Washington meeting on Friday, a State Department spokeswoman declined to confirm whether such a meeting would actually go ahead, Reuters said.
Meanwhile, it also emerged on Friday that the U.S. would suspend its annual December Vigilant Ace air power exercise to “give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said.
“Both ministers are committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of our forces,” White explained. “They pledged to maintain close coordination and evaluate future exercises.”
Denuclearization talks between the U.S. and DPRK face significant hurdles given the gulf between the two on the issue of sanctions relief, which Pyongyang has been calling for on the basis of not testing nuclear devices or ballistic missiles for nearly a year.
President Moon goes to Europe: what was, and wasn’t, achieved, By Ramon Pacheco Pardo
While differences remain stark, the mood among EU leaders is shifting in Seoul’s favor.
President Moon Jae-in has just returned from a five-country trip to Europe, with North Korea at the top of the agenda.His recent trip reinforced that Europe is sympathetic towards President Moon’s diplomatic push, but Seoul also saw first-hand that the EU is not fully supportive of every aspect of Seoul’s North Korea policy.
A good starting point to understand where Europe stands is the fact that there was no joint statement following Friday’s EU-ROK bilateral summit.
This is highly unusual. Essentially, the lack of a joint statement was due to one factor: the EU’s insistence on including the phrase “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization (CVID)” or a similar wording in the statement. South Korea was opposed to this: Moon would have accepted the use of “complete denuclearization,” but CVID ended up being a step too far.
In the weeks prior to the summit, there were discussions about the joint statement referring to support for the Iranian nuclear deal and denouncing Russia’s interventionism in Ukraine. Within the South Korean government, there were discussions regarding providing support to Brussels on these matters in exchange for the joint statement toning down its message on CVID, as well as on sanctions. Once it became clear that Brussels would not budge on CVID, however, the scene was set for no joint statement.
Indeed, European leader after European leader conveyed the same message: CVID is the basis of UNSC resolutions. This is key to the EU, and informs Brussels’ decision to stand by it. In his remarks opening the EU-ROK summit, President of the European Council Donald Tusk referred to CVID and North Korea’s denuclearization in the context of “full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
For Brussels, full implementation of UNSC sanctions is necessary to discourage others from following North Korea’s steps – particularly would-be nuclear powers in the Middle East. It is also a matter of international law, for one of the key tenets of the EU is respect for the rule of law. The official position thus remains that if UNSC sanctions are in place, they should be applied.
But this should not hide the fact that there are divisions in Europe regarding full implementation. Support for maximum pressure is waiving as inter-Korean relations move forward and President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un prepare for a second summit.
Most EU member states would much rather concentrate on Russia, China and a host of other foreign policy and domestic issues rather than sanctions on North Korea.
In this context, and very importantly for Seoul, President Moon’s trip has helped to move Europe towards sequencing. It has been barely discussed that French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that there could be moves towards sanctions relief if North Korea takes “meaningful steps” towards denuclearization.
Similarly, a press release from the UK government following President Moon’s meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May stated that North Korea had to take “concrete steps” towards denuclearization, but, crucially, did not directly link sanctions relief to CVID. Also, in conversations behind closed doors, different European diplomats linked sanctions relief to a denuclearization process rather than CVID itself. This can be considered a diplomatic victory for Seoul.
Overall, President Moon can be mildly satisfied with his trip to Europe. On the positive side from Seoul’s perspective, the EU has moved towards accepting sequencing. Furthermore, the EU and several European countries expressed their willingness to provide concrete support for diplomacy in the Korean Peninsula, whether through their technical expertise or the facilitation of dialogue.
But CVID and full implementation of sanctions remain official EU policy. Seoul still has to decide how to make the EU trust Pyongyang’s intentions, as well as how to convince Europe that sanctions relief should come earlier than the EU is willing to contemplate right now.
The latest from the podcast:
How Chinese, Japanese, and Russian media cover North Korea – Ep. 42
Three analysts examine how the DPRK is covered elsewhere.
This week, we invited the translators behind the FMM, John Petrushka (Chinese), Kosuke Takahashi (Japanese), and Fyodor Tertitskiy (Russian), to examine how foreign medias cover (or don’t cover) North Korea, discuss how the countries responded to key developments in Pyongyang, and share some oddball reports on the DPRK.
About the guests: John Petrushka is an NK News contributor based in Washington, D.C. He studied Asia and International Affairs at Georgetown University and George Washington University. His other research topics include transitional justice in North Korea.
Kosuke Takahashi is a Tokyo-based journalist. His work has appeared in the Asahi Shimbun, Bloomberg, Asia Times, Jane’s Defence Weekly and The Diplomat, among other publications.
Fyodor Tertitskiy is a News Analyst at NK Pro. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Seoul National University.
Top MHI-NK Stories from around the web:
North Korea’s box of bones: A mythical king and the dream of Korean unification (Straits Times)
It’s the stuff of an Indiana Jones movie: supernatural kings, ancient tombs, and government-backed archaeologists striving to harness the power of legend for a greater cause.
On a divided Korean peninsula, tales of King Dangun – the mythical founder of the first Korean kingdom more than 4,350 years ago – play a quiet but persistent role in keeping the dream of reunification alive.
This mythology made an appearance in September when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the top of Mount Baekdu, the supposed birthplace of Dangun.
Mr Moon also invoked the legend in an unprecedented speech in Pyongyang, calling for Korea to be reunited.”We had lived together for 5,000 years, but apart for just 70 years,” said Mr Moon, whose parents came from what is now North Korea.
For many South Koreans, the idea of unification has become increasingly unrealistic amid a widening gulf between the two Koreas more than 70 years after they were partitioned in the wake of World War II.
The legend of Dangun, however, plays a lasting role in promoting unification because it portrays Koreans as a homogeneous group destined to live together, said Professor Jeong Young-Hun of Seoul’s Academy of Korean Studies.
“Dangun is a basis for Koreans to feel the necessity for pursuing harmony and unification,” he said. “Dangun is a basis for seeing unification as something possible.”There is little evidence for the glorious king or the thousands of years of Korean unity Dangun is said to have founded.
Still, that has not stopped North Korea from claiming to have found his tomb and South Korea from eulogising the unity of a kingdom that once challenged the might of China’s dynasties.
“In both Koreas, (Dangun) has been used to emphasise the uniqueness, the singularity, homogeneity and antiquity of the Korean people,” said Dr Michael Seth, a professor of Korean history at James Madison University in Virginia. “Whether a real person or not, he is used by both Koreas to emphasise the unity as well as the uniqueness of the Korean people.”
Top-ranking defense officials of two Koreas to attend military forum in Beijing (Yonhap News)
North Korea’s move to participate in an international military forum organized by the Chinese government is drawing keen attention, amid ongoing negotiations over its denuclearization. The North’s delegation, led by Kim Hyong-ryong, vice minister of the People’s Armed Forces, and Song Il-hyok, deputy director general of the Institute for Disarmament and Peace under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arrived in Beijing on Monday ahead of the opening of the 8th Beijing Xiangshan Forum later this week.
Song and other delegates were escorted out of the airport by officials from the North Korean Embassy and the Chinese government after landing at Beijing’s Capital International Airport on an Air Koryo flight in the morning.
The North Korean officials were warmly welcomed at the airport’s VIP room. South Korea will also send its vice defense minister, Suh Choo-suk, to the Xiangshan Forum, raising speculation about a possible inter-Korean dialogue in Beijing. Suh is set to arrive in the Chinese capital Wednesday for a two-day visit.
“Suh plans to meet with representatives from other countries during the Beijing forum. He has no plan to hold talks with the North but may encounter Pyongyang officials during various forum events,” a source here said.
They reportedly plan to attend the Xiangshan Forum, which will take place at the Beijing International Convention Center from Wednesday to Friday under the sponsorship of the China Association for Military Science and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies.
The theme of the annual forum this year is “Building a new type of security partnership of equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation,” the organizers said, adding that topics of discussion will include “new ideas for and new approaches to international security governance.” Representatives from about 30 countries, including defense ministers of 15 countries, plan to take part in the forum.
The Beijing source, pointing to the visit of Kim, in particular, said there is a possibility of North Korea and China discussing bilateral military cooperation on the sidelines of the forum.
Kim, who attended a banquet hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang in July to celebrate the 71st founding anniversary of the Chinese military, has been known as North Korea’s contact point for its military cooperation with China. Song called for ending Washington’s hostility towards Pyongyang and signing a peace treaty between the two countries during his attendance at a meeting of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific in 2015.
US ‘Left of Launch’ Cyber Efforts Might Increase Korean Peninsula Nuclear Dangers (The Diplomat)
U.S. offensive cyber capabilities might prove destabilizing with North Korea. “North Korea’s relatively lean nuclear force is built around an aggressive and offensive strategy that counts on it going first in a war…”
In fact, earlier this year, a leaked document showed – without naming North Korea specifically – the development of a policy within the Pentagon to pursue “pre-conflict left of launch operations” against missiles. The Pentagon’s policy effort clarified that these kinds of capabilities would be used against an “imminent missile attack”.
Of course, the United States should, and has a public obligation to, defend its citizens from an imminent missile attack, but these kinds of left-of-launch efforts can be destabilising, particularly for the kinds of doubts they will instil in North Korea, which is today a new nuclear power with an acute sense of vulnerability.
Despite the euphemism “left of launch”, what U.S. planners really mean is old-fashioned counterforce against North Korea, whereby its nuclear capabilities are destroyed, leaving it unable to strike the United States. Where more rudimentary conventional and nuclear means of kinetic counterforce would have been obvious in execution, furtive and covert cyber means leave North Korea guessing.
The U.S. likely isn’t using cyber means to disable individual North Korean missiles as they plan to launch today, but could interfere with anything from a missile’s guidance to North Korea’s manufacturing supply chain. There’s no way for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to know for sure.
All of this gives Kim reason for concern and amplifies the nuclear dangers on the Korean peninsula. North Korea’s relatively lean nuclear force is built around an aggressive and offensive strategy that counts on it going first in a war; U.S. efforts to disable its weapons without a shot being fired will cause Kim to double down on ensuring that his missiles can be used when needed.
The Sanctions Effect in North Korea: Observations from Rason (38 North)
While sanctions have not been crippling, they have caused enough problems for North Koreans to be hopeful for a successful summit. “Of all the sanctions passed in the last two years, it appears as if the ban on joint ventures has been the most flaunted…”
There are no mechanisms for countries to track and enforce what sorts of deals their companies have stuck in the DPRK. Moreover, with sometimes serious capital investments by Chinese partners and the sense that these sanctions won’t last forever, it appears as if most foreign partners have simply decided to keep a low profile for the time being, conducting business as usual.
Overall, officials and businesspeople in both Pyongyang and Rason complain that sanctions have made things more difficult—particularly in the winter and spring—but also express resilience. Journalists and other delegations visiting factories in September generally were told that exports still continued. As a foreign visitor, it is difficult to assess the validity of claims of both suffering and resilience: there is value to the DPRK in portraying both, though the overall message can be characterized as “we’ve adjusted, though it has been hard.”
S. Korea to hold cultural festival near DMZ this weekend (Yonhap News)
South Korea will hold a cultural festival at a former U.S. army base near the inter-Korean border this weekend as part of efforts to transform the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a hub of peace-themed tourism, organizers said Monday.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Gyeonggi Provincial Government said they will co-host a fall seasonal cultural festival called “DMZ Transformation Peace Hanmadang” at Camp Greaves just south of the DMZ on Saturday and Sunday.The festival will open at 4 p.m. Saturday with a concert featuring a media art show, performances of traditional Korean folk songs and mask dance and a reading of peace-themed poems.
The highlight of the first concert will be the Telematic Concert in which musicians in three locations — Berlin, San Francisco and South Korea’s DMZ — will perform together on a real-time basis via remote telecommunication links.
On Sunday, the second concert will feature performances by a youth orchestra, the U.S. 8th Army Band, a street dance team and an artist group of North Korea defectors.The festival’s sub-events include tours to the former U.S. army base and the DMZ, as well as various hands-on experiences.There will also be an exhibition of photos of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) from Oct. 27 to April next year. The NNSC was set up after the 1950-53 Korean War to uphold a fragile armistice in place of a peace treaty.
“This event, which will take place within the civilian control line, will help transform Camp Greaves into a mecca of peace-themed tourism,” an official with the Gyeonggi provincial government said.
Donald Trump says the US will “terminate” the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty after claiming that Russia had been noncompliant for years.
“We’re the ones that have stayed in the agreement and we’ve honored the agreement but Russia has not unfortunately honored the agreement so we’re going to terminate [it],” Trump told reporters today at a Nevada campaign rally.
The national security adviser will discuss a Cold War-era treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles.The US believes Russia has been violating the INF since at least 2013, when the Kremlin tested a ground-launched cruise missile.
The Obama administration, which Trump criticized in his remarks, chose not to leave the INF treaty despite alleged Russian violations, due to concerns from European countries like Germany and fears of a potential arms race.
Trump hinted at nuclear escalation today, saying, “If we get smart and if others get smart, and say ‘Let’s not develop these horrible nuclear weapons,’ I would be extremely happy with that. But as long as somebody’s violating that agreement then we’re not going to be the only ones to adhere to it.”
Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would withdraw from the treaty as Russia has been noncompliant, The INF treaty was established during the Cold War by former president Ronald Reagan. It banned missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500km, and led to the destruction of thousands of stored arms on both sides.
How has Russia responded?
a move Moscow said would be a “very dangerous step that, I’m sure, not only will not be comprehended by the international community but will provoke serious condemnation,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The treaty is “significant for international security and security in the sphere of nuclear arms, for the maintenance of strategic stability,” he told state news agency Tass.
The minister also told the news agency RIA Novosti that if the US continued to behave “clumsily and crudely” and backed out of international agreements, “then we will have no choice but to undertake retaliatory measures, including involving military technology”.
“But we would not want to get to this stage,” he added.
What is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty?
Signed by the US and the USSR in 1987, the arms control deal banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges, except sea-launched weapons
The US had been concerned by the Soviet deployment of the SS-20 missile system and responded by placing Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe – sparking widespread protests
By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been destroyed. Both countries were allowed to inspect the others installations
In 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin declared the treaty no longer served Russia’s interests. The move came after the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002
Hasbro presents its quarterly figures.
A drop in revenue is expected as the Toys ‘R’ Us liquidation continues to cast a shadow. Investors will be keen to hear the toy company’s forecast for the holiday season.
This toy maker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +8.1%.Revenues are expected to be $1.72 billion, down 3.7% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.23% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.
Estimate revisions ahead of a company’s earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model — the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
For Hasbro, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company’s earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -2.66%.
Twenty-four countries debate a sanctuary in the Antarctic Ocean.
Over the next two weeks, a commission will meet in Hobart, Tasmania, to discuss creating the world’s largest protected area at nearly 2 million square kilometers (770,000 square miles).Any member country can put forward a proposal for a change to how the Antarctic Ocean is managed, and these get debated at yearly meetings. The giant new sanctuary that’s up for debate this year that’s comes from a proposal by the EU.
This year’s meeting is a golden opportunity to make the Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary happen. There’s now two million people supporting the sanctuary proposal, and people, organisations and supportive governments have poured their effort and energy into making this happen.There are also proposals on the table for other protected areas which it would be great to see passed, as we want to see a network of ocean sanctuaries in the Antarctic.
Once the negotiations are underway, everything happens behind closed doors – so it’s important to get the message across before the meeting starts on 22 October.Before then, governments will be doing last-minute preparations and finalising their negotiating tactics. Lots of countries are already on board – but these governments can still do more to be cheerleaders as well as supporters, using their diplomatic clout to convince every country to vote yes.
An update on the spread of a polio-like disease.
Starting today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide weekly updates of new cases of acute flaccid myelitis, a disease that affects the spinal cord and can cause paralysis in children-have risen substantially in the US in the past couple of months, Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said today (Oct. 16).
Usually after just a mild cold or fever, the condition weakens or paralyzes limbs. Often patients—most of whom are children—recover, but sometimes this paralysis can be permanent. One child in the US died from the condition in 2017.
“This is actually a pretty dramatic disease,” Messonnier said. “These kids have a sudden onset of weakness and they are generally seeking medical care and being evaluated by neurologists, infectious-disease doctors and their pediatricians and coming to public-health awareness.”
It’s unclear what causes AFM. The CDC, which has only collected data on 362 cases confirmed since 2014, estimates there are usually less than one million cases of AFM per year in the US. It’s widely suspected that AFM is related to the viruses that cause polio and West Nile. However, none of the patients with AFM have tested positive for polio, and Messonnier said that West Nile is not the cause. Scientists also believe it could be related to genetic or environmental factors but are unsure how.
Although there isn’t an official state-by-state count, there have been 14 cases in Colorado, eight in Texas, six in Minnesota, five in Maryland, and three in New Jersey. Over half of US states have suspected or confirmed cases, according to a survey conducted by CNN.
At the moment, there is no treatment for AFM. Healthcare providers can only try to mitigate symptoms of patients with the hope that they recover.
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OVER THE WEEKEND
Saudi Arabia admitted Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in its Istanbul consulate.
Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News that the journalist’s death was a “tremendous mistake and part of a rogue operation, adding that his government would punish those responsible for his “murder.
“The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government.”
Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia was taking action to investigate how Khashoggi died and hold those responsible accountable.
“We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder,” he said.
” while British, French, and German governments issued a joint statementdemanding a more credible explanation , Defending freedom of expression and a free press are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France. European nations release statement condemning killing and demanding ‘urgent clarification’ on circumstances of journalist’s death.
Our thoughts are today with Mr Khashoggi’s family, his fiancée, and his friends – who have worried about him for weeks, and to whom we extend our most heartfelt condolences.
We take note of the Saudi statement which gives their preliminary findings.Yet there remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened on 2 October – beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible.
We thus stress that more efforts are needed and expected towards establishing the truth in a comprehensive, transparent and credible manner.We will ultimately make our judgement based on the credibility of the further explanation we receive about what happened and our confidence that such a shameful event cannot and will not ever be repeated.
We therefore ask for the investigation to be carried out thoroughly until responsibilities are clearly established and that there is proper accountability and due process for any crimes committed.
We will stay in close contact with our Saudi partners in that regard.
The quality and significance of the relationship we have with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also rests with the respect we have for the norms and values to which the Saudi authorities and us are jointly committed under international law.
Donald Trump, however, praised Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom many deem responsible.
The exception was the White House. Trump has continued to stand by the crown prince, calling him a “strong person” with “very good control” who “truly loves his country” in the Washington Post interview. He said earlier he is unwilling to jeopardize business deals between the countries, referring to US-Saudi arms sales (paywall). “We’d be punishing ourselves” by killing such a deal, he said, calling it a “tremendous order for our companies.”
Trump has continually expressed confidence in bin Salman’s handling of the matter. The prince “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” he tweeted on Oct. 16, referring to discussions with the crown prince, “and has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter.”
But even members of Trump’s own party are criticizing the crown prince. “I feel certain that the crown prince was involved and that he directed this,” senator Rand Paul told Fox News Sunday today. “And that’s why I think we cannot continue to have relations with him. And so I think he’s gonna have to be replaced, frankly.”
Calls to sanction Saudi Arabia are rising, but the Saudi government is trying to rattle its own saber. The state-run Saudi Press Agency warned on Oct. 14 that any action from the US would elicit “greater action, and that the Kingdom’s economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy.” (The Saudi embassy in Washington later walked back the threat by thanking countries like the US “for refraining from jumping to conclusions” in the case.)
It’s a hollow threat (paywall) in any case. Saudi Arabia depends on the US for its economic well-being, and remains heavily dependent on oil. Restaging the 1970s oil embargo which drove up oil prices would be impossible. Far more countries supply international oil markets today, and US production now exceeds that of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi air force flies primarily US jets that need spare parts from US suppliers. Attempts to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and the state (70% of employed Saudis work for the government) are mostly big bets on US startups—including Lyft, Uber, and Magic Leap—and a massive $45 billion check to SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the largest venture fund of all time.
Now the country’s investments are being questioned as well. Business leaders such as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and other prominent figures, including executives at Ford, Google, and JPMorgan Chase, have pulled out (paywall) of the country’s key “Davos in the Desert” event this month. Even US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, after initially saying he would attend, decided to skip it as well (he’s still slated to attend an anti-terror finance meeting with the Saudis later this month).
Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights ranks among the world’s worst. The country regularly resorts to torture, political assassinations, financing terrorism, and conducting airstrikes on civilians in Yemen, where its actions threaten to create a deadly famine for millions of people. But the gruesome details of the murder of Khashoggi, who wrote passionately about democracy in Saudi Arabia, may have struck too close to home for the crown prince’s former allies, even if Trump remains a fan.
The caravan of Honduran migrants reached southern Mexico.
Mexican authorities stopped migrants at the Guatemalan border, many of whom are now waiting to request asylum. Others managed to cross into Mexico and regroup to start walking north towards the US. An estimated 10% of the population of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have fled violence, forced gang recruitment, and poverty.
Mr Trump criticised the countries on Monday for allowing people to leave the region and come “illegally” to the US. The group is travelling through Mexico, but is still far from the US border.Human rights organisations have said that cutting aid would make the situation worse.
The president has not specified what money will be cut and it is unclear if such action can be taken by presidential order.
In 2017, Guatemala received over $248m (£191m) in US aid. The same year, Honduras received $175m and El Salvador $115m, according to the US Agency for International Development.
“Cutting aid to refugee-producing countries will only make worse the conditions that displace people in the first place,” said Human Rights Watch on Sunday.The organisation said root causes must be addressed. “People generally don’t want to leave their homes if they can live normal, safe lives there.”
Though President Trump has accused the migrants of trying to illegally enter the US, many of the families travelling towards the border are seeking asylum.They say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries.
Women feel safer in a convoy
The square in Tapachula – the first major population centre inside Mexico for these migrants – has turned into what looked like a makeshift camp. Along one side, ambulances lined up so medics could treat those who had become sick or got injured on their journey.
Mexicans came to offer food, water and clothes to the many hundreds of Hondurans who rested ahead of the long punishing journey that still remains ahead of them to the US border.
Many women among the group in particular have told us that they could never have made this journey alone, because it would have been too dangerous. So in spite of their tiredness, they are glad to be with others.
But there is a sense that this is no longer just a convoy of those here in Tapachula, but that there is now a long stream of people stretching back along the route through Guatemala to Honduras, with people stuck at various obstacles and others who are still coming to join this migration.
Who are the migrants?
A group of about 1,000 Hondurans set off on foot from a bus terminal in the crime-ridden city of San Pedro Sula on 13 October in an attempt to escape unemployment and the threat of violence.
Many of them had become aware of the caravan after a former lawmaker had published a poster announcing the caravan on Facebook. News of it quickly spread on social media.
They have since been joined by other Central American nationals as they crossed Guatemala towards the Mexican border.The region has one of the highest murder rates in the world and many try to flee gang violence.
Elon Musk said his first hyperloop test tunnel was “almost done.
”The Boring Co. will open its first high-speed transit tunnel (paywall) in Hawthorne, California on Dec. 10,While the trial tunnel — which begins on the site of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX in Hawthorne, California — injects a dose of realism to his vision of a hyper-fast underground system, key questions remain. It’s unclear how Musk will achieve the top speeds of 760 miles (1,220 kilometers) per hour he has touted for a hyperloop tunnel, and the mode of transport that will be used there.
Musk tweeted on Sunday. Musk said the trial tunnel will hit a top speed of 155 mph.“The first tunnel is almost done,” Musk said on his official Twitter account. “Opens Dec 10.”Boring Co. said in August that it was hosting tours of the tunnel site for schools in L.A. County, accommodating as many as 30 students each time.The company is also working on other projects including a Dugout Loop in Los Angeles to transport baseball fans directly to Dodger Stadium, and an express service from O’Hare airport to downtown Chicago.
Some 700,000 people gathered for an anti-Brexit rally in London.
In one of the largest demonstrations in British history, protesters on Saturday called for a second Brexit referendum, according to the People’s Vote campaign that organized the protest. The police said that, in spite of the size, the event passed without any arrests or criminal disruption. If the numbers are correct, it will go down as one of the largest protests ever held in the UK.
The “Stop the War” protest against the Iraq War, held on Feb. 15, 2003, would count as the largest, with at least 750,000 people, according to police figures. The next biggest, before today, was the Sep. 23, 2002 “Liberty and Livelihood” protest, with 400,000 people (it aimed to raise awareness of rural issues).
Theresa May, who is expected to tell the Commons today that the Brexit withdrawal agreement is 95% complete, has ruled out another referendum.
The prime minister is scheduled to make a statement on Monday afternoon, after intense criticism from the Tory right for appearing to have made no progress other than indicating at last week’s European summit that she was open to extending the post-Brexit transition period, prompting renewed speculation about a leadership challenge.A clearly rattled Downing Street held two conference calls with cabinet ministers over the weekend to update them on the European summit before a cabinet discussion on Brexit on Tuesday. Concerns were raised about the transition period and time-limiting the Irish backstop. “No one is in the mood to be bounced,” said one cabinet source.
May intends to show the progress made by highlighting all the specific areas of agreement already reached, including settling the divorce bill at £39bn, having an implementation period until at least the end of 2020 and recognising the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa.The withdrawal agreement covers the legal agreement or treaty that the UK will sign with the EU to conclude its exit by 29 March, the end of the article 50 period. May will say that the shape of the deal across “the vast majority” of its text is now clear.
Restive Conservative backbenchers will meet on Wednesday night at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, which will be addressed by the party chair, Brandon Lewis. A total of 48 of them have to write to the committee’s chair, Graham Brady, to demand a confidence vote in May if they are to trigger a leadership challenge that No 10 is desperate to avoid as the Brexit talks come towards their final critical stage.
Two key issues remain unresolved in the Brexit talks: how to ensure that the so-called backstop designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland has an end point and that it does not allow for Northern Ireland to be separated from Great Britain via a customs border.
Last week, May indicated she could accept extending the transition period in which the UK would remain subject to the customs union and single market beyond December 2020 in an attempt to reach a free trade agreement that would prevent the backstop being used.
Earlier on Sunday, the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, conceded that Conservative backbenchers had become jittery about the Brexit negotiations but insisted “now is the time to play for the team” as speculation about May’s leadership swirled.
“We need to hold our nerve; the end is in sight in terms of a good deal – the prize that we want: a good deal with the EU,” Raab said.Officials from both sides will continue talks this week in the hope of a breakthrough after last week’s summit where EU leaders agreed they would try to find a way to strike a deal with May.
Voting was extended from Saturday to Sunday because of Taliban threats, and at least 28 people were killed in the country’s first parliamentary elections in eight years , came after three years of delays due to security issues and political infighting over electoral reform measures.
Deadly violence
Seventeen civilians, 10 police officers and one army officer were killed, Afghan Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak said, adding that at least 192 incidents had also left dozens of people injured.
One deadly attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who targeted a polling station in Kabul, the capital, said Basir Mojahid, a spokesman for the city’s police chief.
The attacker was identified and detonated his bomb before reaching the station, he said. The death toll wasn’t immediately known.
An explosion in Kabul killed a child as voting was underway, Italian-run nongovernmental organization EMERGENCY said, adding that its staff had received 36 patients needing treatment.
The Taliban had warned Afghans ahead of the vote not to participate in what they called “an American project from start to finish.”
The vote took place amid security threats, with both the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) armed groups vowing to disrupt the vote.
Several explosions targeted polling stations across the country. In the capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber struck a voting centre late on Saturday killing at least 18 people: 10 civilians, seven security officers and one polling agent. Twenty-five others were wounded in the attack.
Najeeb Danish, interior ministry spokesperson, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that 27 people were killed and 100 others wounded nationwide on election day.
“In Kabul, we arrested two people with links to terror activities and 10 across Afghanistan. We also recovered explosives and at least 10 mines since the start of polling,” Danish said.
“Sixty people accused of meddling in the election, including government employees, have been arrested,” he added.
logistical problems
It’s not yet clear how logistical problems at many polling stations will affect turnout figures, but the IEC said 401 polling stations would open on Sunday — including 45 stations in Kabul — due to Saturday’s technical and staffing issues.
More than 20,000 polling stations were open across the country, with the exception of Kandahar and Ghazni provinces, where voting will take place at a later date, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said earlier.
Some 70,000 members of the Afghan forces have been deployed to ensure the security of the elections, he said.
Preliminary results are expected within 20 days. “The extension of polling will not cause delays in the release of the final results,” Sadat said.
Close to nine million Afghans registered to vote in the elections, the third since the Taliban armed group was pushed out of power in 2001. More than 2,500 candidates, including 417 women, are vying for a seat in the country’s 250-member parliament.
Q-MHI OBSESSION INTERLUDE
Annabelle Timsit on how one community has come together to care for babies born dependent on opioids.
“Because babies with NAS are the innocent bystanders of this public health crisis, they’ve often attracted people’s empathy and pity, much more so than the mothers who are blamed for their condition. Fundamentally, that’s because humans are inclined to see babies as a chance at redemption. As Clawson explained, ‘I see a baby as someone who might some day contribute something good to this world, and … who will make it a better place than it was before he or she existed.’”
MATTERS OF DEBATE
Microfinance, not charity, is the way to end poverty.
The world needs two separate financial systems—one for the rich and one for the poor.
What does that new system look like?
Like a Grameen bank. It’s a bank for the poor and it doesn’t lend money to the rich. The bank for the rich doesn’t lend money to the poor. That’s a simple division. Two systems.
How do you convince the world to create this dual system?
For the same reason you want to change the situation of poverty. Governments are used to giving grants to poor people for survival. Whether you are a rich country or a poor country, every country does that. Instead of giving grants, it’s much cheaper to do it as a loan. The money comes back, covers its own cost, and is sustainable. It’s a market-based system.
What is the most effective way you’ve seen to tackle poverty in recent years?
Whichever way you do it, it has to create income. In order to create income you have to encourage people to become entrepreneurs.
If you talk about poverty, often you hear about education. “Give them education” is the common response. Education, and then what? The job market has not done much good. In many countries, 50% of young people are unemployed.
What would this system look like?
Capitalism went wrong because it started with the wrong premise. It misrepresents human beings and says we are driven by self interest. I think this is a grossly wrong statement. Human beings are both driven by self interest and selflessness. The economic system forgot the selflessness part, and once we include it into the business then you have two kinds of business: business to make money and business to solve problems. Then the economic system becomes different.
Finally, I want to ask about sustainable finance, which is gaining momentum by promising more environmental, social, and governance considerations among investors.
These are buzzwords. There’s nothing called “sustainable finance” because the poor people are not included in that financial system. It’s a system for the rich. It’s as simple as that. Unless you have a financial system which includes the poorest person, then sustainability doesn’t exist.
Silicon Valley needs to learn about ethics.
Salesforce and 23andMe are among the companies toying with hiring a chief ethics officer(paywall).
Is the solution for its companies to hire a chief ethics officer?
While some tech companies like Google have top compliance officers and others turn to legal teams to police themselves, no big tech companies that I know of have yet taken this step. But a lot of them seem to be talking about it, and I’ve discussed the idea with several chief executives recently. Why? Because slowly, then all at once, it feels like too many digital leaders have lost their minds.
It’s probably no surprise, considering the complex problems the tech industry faces. As one ethical quandary after another has hit its profoundly ill-prepared executives, their once-pristine reputations have fallen like palm trees in a hurricane. These last two weeks alone show how tech is stumbling to react to big world issues armed with only bubble world skills:
As a journalist is beheaded and dismembered at the direction of Saudi Arabian leaders (allegedly, but the killers did bring a bone saw), Silicon Valley is swimming in oceans of money from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund. Saudi funding includes hundreds of millions for Magic Leap, and huge investments in hot public companies like Tesla. Most significantly: Saudis have invested about $45 billion in SoftBank’s giant Vision Fund, which has in turn doused the tech landscape — $4.4 billion to WeWork, $250 million to Slack, and $300 million to the dog-walking app Wag. In total Uber has gotten almost $14 billion, either through direct investments from the Public Investment Fund or through the Saudis’ funding of the Vision Fund. A billion here, a billion there and it all adds up.
Don’t look for the perfect job right out of college.
New grads should take opportunities that let them learn in the working world.
on Saturday, Mark Cuban—businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks—hosted an Ask Me Anything, or AMA, on the NBA subreddit. While he mostly addressed questions from the basketball community (his biggest mistake, he recalled, was letting go of future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash), Cuban also answered a handful of career-oriented questions.
In one exchange with a soon-to-be college graduate who professed “no f***ing clue” what to do in life, Cuban dropped some serious knowledge.
“You don’t need to find the perfect job,” he counseled. “You paid for college, now find a job where you get paid to learn. It can be anything. It’s not a career, it’s a chance to get paid to be a freshman in the work world.”
Cuban suggests an open-minded approach for young professionals. Instead of trying to find the “right job” after graduation, look for an opportunity that will let you grow.
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
The world’s shortest flight lasts less than two minutes.
The journey between two of the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland costs £21 ($27) roundtrip or $27. Meanwhile, a Singapore-New York round trip in December 2018 starts at about 4,100 Singapore dollars or $2,968—which is about 110 times more expensive.
The distance between the two Orkney isles is 1.7 miles—about 6,110 times less than the world’s longest flight. So the higher price is actually not so bad per mile flown. And for the extra bucks, you get to choose between lobster thermidor and a special jetlag-reducing Canyon Ranch menu.
Loganair uses a variety of aircraft: Its smallest plane is a Britten Norman Islander that only has a wingspan of 16.15m and seats eight. Singapore Airlines flies with 94 premium-economy seats and 67 business-class seats on an Airbus A350, which has a sticker price of $445 million (though is actually much cheaper for airlines that place bulk orders). Finally, the world’s longest flight is about 1,080 times longer in flight time than the world’s shortest.
A Girl Scout cashed in on Canada’s pot legalization.
The 9-year-old Elina Childs sold all her cookies in 45 minutes to patrons in line at a weed shop the day marijuana was legalized.
Stationed outside a newly opened dispensary in Edmonton on Oct. 17, Childs sold cookies to customers standing in four-hour lines, CNN reported. She sold out in 45 minutes, earning C$120 (US$91). “She didn’t quite understand what the big deal was,” her dad, Seann Childs, told CNN. “She was just selling cookies in her mind, but everyone was so happy to see her, and kept congratulating her.”
Childs wasn’t the only one ready to cash in on the munchies. Over the summer, as Canada prepared to legalize marijuana, many restaurant chains and food manufacturers planned offerings to capture the new line of business.
Hershey Canada rolled out a special edition candy bar called “Oh Henry! 4:25.” The bar, a peanut-nougat concoction in bright green packaging, was advertised as “specially formulated to satisfy the intense hunger craving that occurs five minutes after 4:20.” Food delivery company Foodora sold a “hotbox” special on April 20 for $4.20 in several Canadian cities. It came with brioche-style buns topped with poutine, plus sunglasses and mints in a separate kit.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a company called 4:20 Grasshopper Gourmet sells healthier snacks to “give people a better alternative when they get the munchies,” co-founder Kenny Vannucci told CBC.
Giant mice are killing millions of seabird chicks on Gough Island.
Up to 50% bigger than a domestic mouse, their voracious appetites are threatening rare species with extinction on the South Atlantic island. “Many of the seabirds on Gough are small and nest in burrows,” said Dr Anthony Caravaggi, from University College Cork, in the Republic of Ireland. “The chicks are smaller and have no escape route, so for an opportunistic mouse these chicks constitute relatively easy prey.
“The mice have done so well that they’ve grown bigger and are now attacking all seabirds, even Tristan albatross chicks, which are far bigger than other, smaller sea-going birds.”
According to a study from the RSPB, the mice have learned to eat the eggs and chicks of the many millions of birds that make Gough Island their home.The group says that without action, the endangered Tristan albatross is likely to go extinct.
A campaign is planned to eradicate the mice entirely in 2020.
Restoring South Georgia’s wildlife paradise
Same-sex mice have babies
Gough Island is a remote UK Overseas Territory, considered to be one of the world’s most important seabird colonies, hosting more than 10 million birds. Mice were introduced to the 91-sq-km volcanic island by sailors during the 19th Century. The rodents have adapted to the limited resources on the small piece of land by developing a taste for seabird eggs and chicks.
Scientists found ways to prevent crying.
If you feel tears coming, All too often an emotional situation or conflict catches you unawares. In those cases, there are a few tricks to try for stopping your tears.
● Press the emotional reset button — with your tongue. Pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth and you will instantly stop crying,” said Janine Driver, chief executive of the Body Language Institute in Washington.
● Relax your facial muscles. Ms. Driver said that your inner eyebrows pull together and up when you are genuinely sad, and that loosening those muscles will “lock up” your tears.
● Breathe deeply. Theresa Nguyen, a mindfulness and success coach who founded More Time More You life coaching in Dallas, said that focusing on your breath can help you step away from your emotions — and stop you from saying anything you might regret later. “Take a deep breath in through your nose for four seconds and hold it for two seconds,” Ms. Nguyen said. “Then, through pursed lips, breathe out for another eight seconds.”
● Give yourself a hard pinch. If you can hide your hands, Ms. Driver suggested: “Simply pinch the skin between your thumb and pointer finger and voilà, you will instantly stop crying.”
A Jewish immigrant introduced the UK to fish and chips.
Fish prepared “in the Jewish manner” became a Friday tradition for Jews and Christians alike.
During World War II, Winston Churchill exempted the beloved dish from rationing. Today, “Fish & Chip Friday” is a weekly ritual for Brits ringing in the weekend.Fish and chips’s origin story, however, is a bit more complex than this nationalist sentiment might imply.
As told by Simon Majumdar in his podcast, Eat My Globe, it all began outside of the U.K., hundreds of years ago. From the 8th to the 12th century, Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in relative peace in Portugal, known as Al-Andalus under Moorish rule. Sephardic Jews, who likely comprised around 20 percent of the population, were relatively well-respected and held positions in the high court. For this reason, the area became somewhat of a haven for those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. However, in 1496, after the end of Moorish rule, King Manuel I married Isabel of Spain, who was not so aligned with the idea of religious freedom. Her ultimatum: Their betrothal would mean the expulsion of Jews from Portugal. Manuel I mandated that all Jews be baptized, or otherwise expelled.
While many fled, some Jews stayed, and either converted to Christianity or pretended to do so while continuing to practice Judaism in secret. But when Portugal fell under Spanish rule, the Inquisition targeted individuals with Jewish lineage, threatening anyone claiming to be a Converso. As religious violence worsened, many fled Portugal and resettled in England, bringing with them culinary treasures founded in Sephardic cuisine—including fish.
Peshkado frito (in Andalusian dialect, pescaíto frito) was one of them. The dish of white fish, typically cod or haddock, fried in a thin coat of flour, was a favorite particularly among Sephardic Jews, who fried it on Friday nights to prepare for the Sabbath, as the Mosaic laws prohibited cooking. Allegedly, the batter preserved the fish so it could be eaten cold, and without sacrificing too much flavor, the following day.
Pyongyang, Seoul to discuss continued implementation of September agreement: MND.
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