This segment of WION brings to you top stories of the morning from across the globe. Watch this video to get updated with the latest information.

WION Speed News: Watch top national and international news of the evening - August 17th, 2019

Since 2008, U.S. administrations have notified Congress of more than $24 billion in foreign military sales to Taiwan, including in the past two months the sale of 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, valued at $2.2 billion dollars.

China irked by US-Taiwan arms deal

The US justice department on Friday unveiled a warrant for the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a weeks-long diplomatic dispute.

US calls for seizure of Iranian tanker

Donald Trump said Friday that tech giant Apple would be spending "vast sums" of money in the US in a tweet ahead of a dinner meeting with its CEO Tim Cook.

The men have had several informal meetings before, including at Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump is reportedly on a working holiday at his golf course.

"Having dinner tonight with Tim Cook of Apple. They will be spending vast sums of money in the US Great!" he tweeted at around 7 pm local time.

The meeting follows Thursday's announcement from Apple that it has invested roughly $60 billion in the US, and currently employs some 90,000 people in the country.

Many of the tech giant's products are assembled in China and the company opposes incoming tariffs an issue Trump is fixated on of 10 per cent on goods manufactured in China, due to come into force on September 1.

Trump has rejected <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/apple-loses-more-ground-in-smartphone-market-falls-to-fourth-place-in-global-sales-241919">Apple's calls for an exemption on its products</a>, tweeting in July the company should, "Make them in the USA, No Tariffs!"

But his administration announced Thursday tariffs on some goods would be delayed until December.

Apple did not immediately respond to comment about the dinner, and Trump did not tweet again about the meeting, or what was discussed.

The president's latest missive comes after a gaffe in March when he referred to Cook as "Tim Apple".

Donald Trump said Friday that tech giant Apple would be spending "vast sums" of money in the US in a tweet ahead of a dinner meeting with its CEO Tim Cook. The men have had several informal meetings before, including at Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump is reportedly on a working holiday at his golf course.

Donald Trump said Friday that tech giant Apple would be spending "vast sums" of money in the US in a tweet ahead of a dinner meeting with its CEO Tim Cook. The men have had several informal meetings before, including at Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump is reportedly on a working holiday at his golf course. "Having dinner tonight with Tim Cook of Apple. They will be spending vast sums of money in the US Great!" he tweeted at around 7 pm local time. The meeting follows Thursday's announcement from Apple that it has invested roughly $60 billion in the US, and currently employs some 90,000 people in the country. Many of the tech giant's products are assembled in China and the company opposes incoming tariffs an issue Trump is fixated on of 10 per cent on goods manufactured in China, due to come into force on September 1. Trump has rejected Apple's calls for an exemption on its products, tweeting in July the company should, "Make them in the USA, No Tariffs!" But his administration announced Thursday tariffs on some goods would be delayed until December. Apple did not immediately respond to comment about the dinner, and Trump did not tweet again about the meeting, or what was discussed. The president's latest missive comes after a gaffe in March when he referred to Cook as "Tim Apple".

Trump says Apple will spend 'vast sums' of money in the United States

China's central bank unveiled a key interest rate reform on Saturday to help steer borrowing costs lower for companies and support a slowing economy that has been hurt by a trade war with the United States.

China's central bank unveiled a key interest rate reform on Saturday to help steer borrowing costs lower for companies and support a slowing economy that has been hurt by a trade war with the United States. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it will improve the mechanism used to establish the loan prime rate (LPR) from this month, in a move to further lower real interest rates for companies as part of broader market reforms. Analysts say the move, which came after data that showed weaker than expected growth in July and followed a cabinet announcement on Friday, underscores the government's attempts to use reforms to support a slowing economy. "By reforming and improving the formation mechanism of LPR, we will be able to use market-based reform methods to help lower real lending rates," the PBOC said in a statement published on its website. The central bank will "deepen market-based interest rate reform, improve the efficiency of interest rate transmission, and lower financing costs of the real economy," it said. Chinese banks' new LPR quotations will be based on rates of open market operations, and the national interbank funding centre will be authorised to publish the rate from August 20, the PBOC said. It added the rate will be published every month on the 20th, effective this month. Banks must set rates on new loans by mainly referring to the LPR and use LPR as the benchmark for setting floating lending rates, the PBOC said, adding that banks will be barred from setting any implicit floor on lending rates in a coordinated way. The central bank said five-year and longer tenors will be added to the existing one-year LPR, which will help banks set rates on long-term loans such as mortgages. China will add eight small banks, including two foreign-funded banks, to the existing 10 nation-wide banks that will be allowed to submit LPR quotations, the central bank said. The move followed pledges from China's State Council on Friday that the country will rely on market-based reform measures to help lower real interest rates for companies. The central bank said that it will strengthen its supervision on banks' rate quotations and punish banks for irregularities that disrupt the market order. The central bank will incorporate the LPR application into its macro-prudential assessment (MPA) to urge banks to use LPR pricing. SHARPER SLOWDOWN This week's data broadly showed China's economy stumbled more sharply than expected at the start of the third quarter, as the intensifying trade war with the United States took a heavier toll on businesses and consumers. Second-quarter economic growth slowed to a near 30-year low. Tang Jianwei, an economist at Bank of Communications in Shanghai, said the reform could be seen as a guided rate cut as PBOC can guide rates of its open market operations, which will be closely followed by the LPR. "The tool (LPR quotation reform) equals to a guided rate cut, and is only pushed out by the PBOC at crucial moments," said Dai Zhifeng, an analyst with Zhongtai Securities Co. The central bank has pledged to gradually unify two interest rate "tracks" - its market-based rates developed in recent years and its benchmark bank deposit and lending rates. Analysts say the new LPR rate will be lower than the current level, but they are divided over the scope of reductions on borrowing costs for firms. To free up funds for lending and to accommodate local government project financing, most analysts still expect the central bank will cut banks' reserve requirement ratios (RRR) further in the coming months, on top of six reductions since early 2018. Sources have told Reuters that more aggressive action such as interest rate cuts are a last resort, as it could fuel a sharper build-up in debt. In July, central bank head Yi Gang said China would keep its benchmark deposit rate for a relatively long time but would phase out its benchmark lending rate in the push to unify the benchmark lending rate and market-based rates. China's banks currently price their loans based on the benchmark lending rate that has been kept unchanged since October 2015, hampering the central bank's efforts to lower borrowing costs. The PBOC launched the LPR in 2013 to reflect rates that banks charge their best clients. But the LPR has been reacting little to market demand and supply, with the one-year rate currently at 4.31 per cent, versus benchmark one-year lending rate of 4.35 per cent. China's short-term money market rates have been falling more quickly in recent months due to the central bank's cash injections.

China unveils rate reform to steer funding costs lower for firms

President Donald Trump's decision to slap 10% tariffs on imported surfboards convinced surf executive Sue Bowers to move factory jobs out of China - but not back to the United States, which was one goal of Trump's tariffs.

U.S. surfboard makers not so stoked about China tariffs

Thousands of travelers at U.S. airports faced delays on Friday because of an nationwide outage of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) processing systems that lasted several hours.

Thousands of travelers delayed at US airports due to technical glitch

An&nbsp;Iranian oil&nbsp;tanker&nbsp;is being reflagged and is preparing to sail to the Mediterranean,&nbsp;Iran's state television reported on&nbsp;Friday,&nbsp;after&nbsp;Gibraltar, decided to&nbsp;free&nbsp;the seized ship.

"Based on the owner's request, the oil&nbsp;tanker&nbsp;Grace 1 will depart for the Mediterranean&nbsp;after&nbsp;being reflagged under the&nbsp;Iranian flag and renamed Adrian Darya&nbsp;after&nbsp;preparing for the journey," the television quoted Jalil Eslami, deputy head of&nbsp;Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, as saying.

Britain's Mediterranean territory&nbsp;Gibraltar&nbsp;decided on Thursday to&nbsp;free&nbsp;the Panama-flagged&nbsp;tanker but did not immediately indicate when or if the ship would set sail&nbsp;after&nbsp;the United States launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it.

"The 25-member crew will start their journey&nbsp;after&nbsp;preparations, including refuelling," Eslami said.

The television report did not identify the&nbsp;tanker's owner.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/captain-of-iranian-tanker-seized-in-gibraltar-accuse-royal-marines-of-brute-force-239560">The Grace 1 was seized by British Royal Marine commandos</a> off the coast of the territory at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on July 4 on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a close ally of&nbsp;Iran.

Two weeks later,&nbsp;Iran&nbsp;seized a British-flagged&nbsp;tanker&nbsp;in the Strait of Hormuz leading into the Gulf.

The two&nbsp;tankers have become pawns in the standoff between&nbsp;Iran&nbsp;and the West, their fate tangled up in the diplomatic differences between the EU's big powers and the United States.

Gibraltar&nbsp;officials did not make clear whether the US legal bid would mean the ship would have to be detained further or, if so, for how long.

Iran&nbsp;said the ship would sail shortly and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif characterised the US bid to prevent it from leaving as "piracy". 
&nbsp;

An Iranian oil tanker is being reflagged and is preparing to sail to the Mediterranean, Iran's state television reported on Friday, after Gibraltar, decided to free the seized ship.

An Iranian oil tanker is being reflagged and is preparing to sail to the Mediterranean, Iran's state television reported on Friday, after Gibraltar, decided to free the seized ship. "Based on the owner's request, the oil tanker Grace 1 will depart for the Mediterranean after being reflagged under the Iranian flag and renamed Adrian Darya after preparing for the journey," the television quoted Jalil Eslami, deputy head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, as saying. Britain's Mediterranean territory Gibraltar decided on Thursday to free the Panama-flagged tanker but did not immediately indicate when or if the ship would set sail after the United States launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it. "The 25-member crew will start their journey after preparations, including refuelling," Eslami said. The television report did not identify the tanker's owner. The Grace 1 was seized by British Royal Marine commandos off the coast of the territory at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on July 4 on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran. Two weeks later, Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz leading into the Gulf. The two tankers have become pawns in the standoff between Iran and the West, their fate tangled up in the diplomatic differences between the EU's big powers and the United States. Gibraltar officials did not make clear whether the US legal bid would mean the ship would have to be detained further or, if so, for how long. Iran said the ship would sail shortly and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif characterised the US bid to prevent it from leaving as "piracy".

Iran tanker prepares to leave after Gibraltar decides to free it: Report

China hits out at media, Western forces on provoking Hong Kong protests. Watch video to know more.

China hits out at media, Western forces on provoking Hong Kong protests

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Friday <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-ban-israel-permits-us-representative-rashida-tlaib-to-make-humanitarian-visit-to-family-in-west-bank-243380">rejected Israel's offer to let her travel to the West Bank</a>, saying she would not visit her family after the Israeli government lifted a ban on her entry but imposed "oppressive conditions" to humiliate her.

Tlaib, a Democrat who represents Michigan in the US&nbsp;House of Representatives and has been critical of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, had planned to make an official visit to Israel along with fellow Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-urges-israel-to-bar-visit-by-us-congresswomen-ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-243211"> US President Donald Trump</a>, on Thursday, said he would not allow them to make a planned trip to Israel. On Friday, Israel decided to allow Tlaib to visit family in the occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds.

"I can't allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me &amp; use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive &amp; racist policies," Tlaib tweeted, using the word sity to refer to her grandmother.

"Silencing me &amp; treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression &amp; injustice," she added.

Tlaib and Omar have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which opposes the Israeli occupation and policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Under Israeli law, BDS backers can be denied entry to Israel.

Netanyahu had said Israel would consider a humanitarian travel request by Tlaib so long as she promised not to promote a boycott against Israel.

Tlaib and Omar are the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, and the Detroit-born Tlaib is also the first Palestinian-American congresswoman.

Both are members of their party's progressive wing and sharp critics both of Trump and Israeli policy.

The two, along with fellow Democratic US Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have also drawn direct attacks from Trump.

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Friday rejected Israel's offer to let her travel to the West Bank, saying she would not visit her family after the Israeli government lifted a ban on her entry but imposed "oppressive conditions" to humiliate her.

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Friday rejected Israel's offer to let her travel to the West Bank, saying she would not visit her family after the Israeli government lifted a ban on her entry but imposed "oppressive conditions" to humiliate her. Tlaib, a Democrat who represents Michigan in the US House of Representatives and has been critical of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, had planned to make an official visit to Israel along with fellow Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, on Thursday, said he would not allow them to make a planned trip to Israel. On Friday, Israel decided to allow Tlaib to visit family in the occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds. "I can't allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies," Tlaib tweeted, using the word sity to refer to her grandmother. "Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice," she added. Tlaib and Omar have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which opposes the Israeli occupation and policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Under Israeli law, BDS backers can be denied entry to Israel. Netanyahu had said Israel would consider a humanitarian travel request by Tlaib so long as she promised not to promote a boycott against Israel. Tlaib and Omar are the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, and the Detroit-born Tlaib is also the first Palestinian-American congresswoman. Both are members of their party's progressive wing and sharp critics both of Trump and Israeli policy. The two, along with fellow Democratic US Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have also drawn direct attacks from Trump.

US Representative Rashida Tlaib says she won't visit West Bank under Israel's 'oppressive' conditions

WION Speed News: Watch top national and international news of the morning - August 16th, 2019

Chinese ambassador to UK slams media, Western forces on provoking Hong Kong protests. Watch the video to know more.

WION Dispatch: Chinese ambassador to UK slams media, Western forces on Hong Kong

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday for a rare visit, with Paris hoping to nudge Moscow towards steps to help end the conflict in the east of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday for a rare visit, with Paris hoping to nudge Moscow towards steps to help end the conflict in the east of Ukraine. Putin is seldom invited by major Western powers for visits at a time of growing tensions, but France believes the arrival of Volodymyr Zelensky as Ukraine's new president could give a new impulse to halting the fighting. Macron will welcome Putin at 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) at his official holiday residence in Bregancon in southern France, days before he hosts other world leaders including US President Donald Trump for the August 24-26 Group of Seven (G7) summit in Biarritz. Russia was slung out of what was the G8 in 2014 after it seized Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, an annexation the international community has deemed illegal. And since 2014, an estimated 13,000 people have been killed in the war between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists over Ukraine's eastern Donbas provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk. Room to manoeuvre Zelensky has pledged to end the five-year-old conflict and shown signs of greater willingness to be flexible than his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, though he has not signalled any major concession. "President Zelensky has made offers to which it seems to us President Putin should respond encouragingly," said a French official, who asked not to be named. "We will intensify our efforts on the question of Ukraine, notably within the Normandy format" that groups Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany. "The election of President Zelensky gives us some room to manoeuvre," the official added. Macron has taken a keen interest in brokering an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, hosting Zelensky for talks in June, one of the former comedian's first foreign trips as president. It would be a major feather in the cap for Macron, who since coming to office in 2017 has sought to magnify France's international role. 'Chance of progress' Zelensky has offered to meet Putin for face-to-face talks, saying "let's do it", and spoke to him by phone last week when four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack. "I called him urgently. I told him that this brings us no closer to peace," Zelensky said. Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Macron would be looking for ways to resuscitate the 2015 Minsk ceasefire deal. "The main public issue will be reviving the Minsk accords. The main promise of the Ukrainian president is ending the war," Baunov told AFP. He said he believed Putin would be prepared to make a move if the Donbas region, which has a large ethnic Russian population, received a special status within Ukraine. "There is a real chance of progress. Moscow will only go in that direction if its main conditions are respected," Baunov said, adding that these consisted of a transition period and local elections in which the main Ukrainian parties would not take part. Treading carefully Iran will also feature high on the agenda of talks between Macron and Putin, with Paris keen for Moscow to use its close ties with Tehran to prevent a further escalation of conflicts in the Middle East. Tensions have shot up since Washington's unilateral pullout from a 2015 deal to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA). Macron will also press Putin to use his influence on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop an offensive in the northern region of Idlib and ward off new refugee flows towards Turkey. On Russia's domestic front, France has repeatedly rebuked Moscow over its crackdown on protesters angered by a refusal to register opposition candidates for elections later this year. But it remains to be seen if Macron will dare spoil the mood of such sensitive talks by raising that issue in public. "Making a point to Putin on this would be seen as interference in Russian internal affairs, but if Macron decides to do this Putin will know what to say," Baunov said. "What is said behind closed doors is another matter."

French president Emmanuel Macron seeks Ukraine progress from Russia's Vladimir Putin in rare pre-G7 talks

Hong Kong's economy grew 0.5 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the government said on Friday, marginally less than a preliminary estimate, but the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/oil-prices-rise-escalating-us-china-trade-war-caps-gains-240974">escalating US-China trade war</a> and growing political unrest are sparking fears the financial centre could soon tip into recession.

The revised figure marked the city's slowest expansion since the global financial crisis a decade ago and was down slightly from both an initial reading of 0.6 per cent and the first quarter's 0.6 per cent pace.

Amid growing internal and external pressures, the government also confirmed it was slashing its full-year 2019 growth forecast to a range of 0 per cent-1 per cent from the previous 2 per cent-3 per cent, which it had flagged on Thursday when it announced a modest economic support package.

Every quarter, the economy shrank by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 per cent, slightly more than an initial estimate of -0.3 per cent, and decelerating from a 1.3 per cent expansion in the first quarter.

Months of increasingly violent confrontations between police and protesters have plunged the international business hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Tourists are cancelling bookings, retailers are forecasting a sharp drop in sales and the stock market is tumbling, adding to pressure the city is feeling from China's economic slowdown.

Hong Kong's economy grew 0.5 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the government said on Friday, marginally less than a preliminary estimate, but the escalating US-China trade war and growing political unrest are sparking fears the financial centre could soon tip into recession.

Hong Kong's economy grew 0.5 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the government said on Friday, marginally less than a preliminary estimate, but the escalating US-China trade war and growing political unrest are sparking fears the financial centre could soon tip into recession. The revised figure marked the city's slowest expansion since the global financial crisis a decade ago and was down slightly from both an initial reading of 0.6 per cent and the first quarter's 0.6 per cent pace. Amid growing internal and external pressures, the government also confirmed it was slashing its full-year 2019 growth forecast to a range of 0 per cent-1 per cent from the previous 2 per cent-3 per cent, which it had flagged on Thursday when it announced a modest economic support package. Every quarter, the economy shrank by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 per cent, slightly more than an initial estimate of -0.3 per cent, and decelerating from a 1.3 per cent expansion in the first quarter. Months of increasingly violent confrontations between police and protesters have plunged the international business hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Tourists are cancelling bookings, retailers are forecasting a sharp drop in sales and the stock market is tumbling, adding to pressure the city is feeling from China's economic slowdown.

Hong Kong second-quarter GDP grows 0.5%, but trade war protests stoke recession risk

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/oil-rises-after-iran-says-it-seized-foreign-tanker-in-gulf-236913">Crude oil prices rose</a> more than 2 per cent on Friday, recovering from two days of declines after data showing a rise in US retail sales helped to ease concerns about a recession in the world's biggest economy.

Brent crude was up 2 per cent at $59.48 a barrel at 0924 GMT, after falling 2.1 per cent on Thursday and 3 per cent the previous day.&nbsp;

US crude was also 2 per cent higher at $55.60 a barrel, having dropped 1.4 per cent in the previous session and 3.3 per cent on Wednesday.

US retail sales rose 0.7 per cent in July as consumers bought a range of goods even as they cut back on motor vehicle purchases, Thursday's data showed.

That came a day after a sell-off in world markets that followed the US Treasury yield curve's first inversion since June 2007 - a development usually seen as a reliable predictor of a looming recession.

"The rebound has a corrective look about it on thin volumes, rather than a beachhead for an impending rebound," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.&nbsp;

"Overall, US data continues to be a bright spot in a dark economic universe."

World stocks also rose on Friday as expectations grew for further stimulus by central banks, offsetting worries about slowing economic growth.

Gains are likely to be capped after a week of data releases included a surprise drop in industrial output growth in China to a more than 17-year low and a fall in exports that sent Germany's economy into reverse in the second quarter.

"The broader story around global economic growth has been a weak one, or a weakening one, and expectations (are for) further weakening," said Phin Ziebell, senior economist at National Australia Bank.

The price of Brent is still up nearly 10 per cent this year thanks to supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, a group known as OPEC+.

In July, OPEC+ agreed to extend oil output cuts until March 2020 to prop up prices.

"At what point will further output cuts be needed at the back end of this year from OPEC and Russia to keep things going the way they are?" Ziebell said.

A Saudi official indicated this month that more steps may be coming, saying Saudi Arabia was committed to doing "whatever it takes" to keep the market balanced next year.

OPEC's efforts have been undermined by worries about a slowing global economy amid a trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as rising US stockpiles of crude and higher output of US shale oil.

Crude oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on Friday, recovering from two days of declines after data showing a rise in US retail sales helped to ease concerns about a recession in the world's biggest economy.

Crude oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on Friday, recovering from two days of declines after data showing a rise in US retail sales helped to ease concerns about a recession in the world's biggest economy. Brent crude was up 2 per cent at $59.48 a barrel at 0924 GMT, after falling 2.1 per cent on Thursday and 3 per cent the previous day. US crude was also 2 per cent higher at $55.60 a barrel, having dropped 1.4 per cent in the previous session and 3.3 per cent on Wednesday. US retail sales rose 0.7 per cent in July as consumers bought a range of goods even as they cut back on motor vehicle purchases, Thursday's data showed. That came a day after a sell-off in world markets that followed the US Treasury yield curve's first inversion since June 2007 - a development usually seen as a reliable predictor of a looming recession. "The rebound has a corrective look about it on thin volumes, rather than a beachhead for an impending rebound," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA. "Overall, US data continues to be a bright spot in a dark economic universe." World stocks also rose on Friday as expectations grew for further stimulus by central banks, offsetting worries about slowing economic growth. Gains are likely to be capped after a week of data releases included a surprise drop in industrial output growth in China to a more than 17-year low and a fall in exports that sent Germany's economy into reverse in the second quarter. "The broader story around global economic growth has been a weak one, or a weakening one, and expectations (are for) further weakening," said Phin Ziebell, senior economist at National Australia Bank. The price of Brent is still up nearly 10 per cent this year thanks to supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, a group known as OPEC+. In July, OPEC+ agreed to extend oil output cuts until March 2020 to prop up prices. "At what point will further output cuts be needed at the back end of this year from OPEC and Russia to keep things going the way they are?" Ziebell said. A Saudi official indicated this month that more steps may be coming, saying Saudi Arabia was committed to doing "whatever it takes" to keep the market balanced next year. OPEC's efforts have been undermined by worries about a slowing global economy amid a trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as rising US stockpiles of crude and higher output of US shale oil.

Oil rises 2% as recession fears recede

A technical glitch delayed the start of trading on Friday on the UK blue-chip FTSE 100 and midcap stock indexes for almost two hours in what was the longest outage at one of the world's top bourses in eight years.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/london-stock-exchange-in-talks-to-buy-refinitiv-for-27-billion-238782">The London Stock Exchange</a> suffered a "technical software issue", which postponed the opening of trading until 0840 GMT, a spokeswoman said in an email. The markets normally open at 0700 GMT.

In a statement on its website, it said it was still investigating the issue.

The fault affected hundreds of shares in some of the UK's largest companies, including Shell, Unilever and HSBC, and BHP Group, worth a total of $2.8 trillion.

Traders were frustrated by the latest outage coming during a hectic week on global financial markets, hit by worries about a US recession and the US-China trade spat.

"Investors would have been yearning for a quiet Friday after a week of turmoil for the markets driven by recession fears," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"It looked like just such a peaceful interlude was on the cards until (the LSE's) technical issues."

A large number of market participants were also away on holiday, which may have limited the impact of the failure.

Paul Mumford, a fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management said it would be a "major embarrassment" for the LSE amid stiffening competition, rising costs and greater regulation among exchange operators.

LSE shares listed on the FTSE 100 were up 0.9 per cent in early deals, in line with the broader FTSE 100.

This is the second outage at the LSE, which handles about 5 billion pounds ($6.1 billion) worth of volume each day, in just over a year.

In June 2018, the opening auction was delayed due to a technical fault, but trading resumed after an hour.

Before that, the market was shut until lunchtime one day in February 2011.

Reuters News' parent Thomson Reuters holds a 45 per cent stake in financial data and news provider Refinitiv.&nbsp;

Thomson Reuters will own 15 per cent in LSE after the proposed deal closes.

A technical glitch delayed the start of trading on Friday on the UK blue-chip FTSE 100 and midcap stock indexes for almost two hours in what was the longest outage at one of the world's top bourses in eight years.

A technical glitch delayed the start of trading on Friday on the UK blue-chip FTSE 100 and midcap stock indexes for almost two hours in what was the longest outage at one of the world's top bourses in eight years. The London Stock Exchange suffered a "technical software issue", which postponed the opening of trading until 0840 GMT, a spokeswoman said in an email. The markets normally open at 0700 GMT. In a statement on its website, it said it was still investigating the issue. The fault affected hundreds of shares in some of the UK's largest companies, including Shell, Unilever and HSBC, and BHP Group, worth a total of $2.8 trillion. Traders were frustrated by the latest outage coming during a hectic week on global financial markets, hit by worries about a US recession and the US-China trade spat. "Investors would have been yearning for a quiet Friday after a week of turmoil for the markets driven by recession fears," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. "It looked like just such a peaceful interlude was on the cards until (the LSE's) technical issues." A large number of market participants were also away on holiday, which may have limited the impact of the failure. Paul Mumford, a fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management said it would be a "major embarrassment" for the LSE amid stiffening competition, rising costs and greater regulation among exchange operators. LSE shares listed on the FTSE 100 were up 0.9 per cent in early deals, in line with the broader FTSE 100. This is the second outage at the LSE, which handles about 5 billion pounds ($6.1 billion) worth of volume each day, in just over a year. In June 2018, the opening auction was delayed due to a technical fault, but trading resumed after an hour. Before that, the market was shut until lunchtime one day in February 2011. Reuters News' parent Thomson Reuters holds a 45 per cent stake in financial data and news provider Refinitiv. Thomson Reuters will own 15 per cent in LSE after the proposed deal closes.

London Stock Exchange, FTSE 100 suffers the longest outage in years

Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement faces a major test this weekend as it tries to muster another huge crowd following criticism over a recent violent airport protest and as concerns mount over Beijing's next move.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement faces a major test this weekend as it tries to muster another huge crowd following criticism over a recent violent airport protest and as concerns mount over Beijing's next move. Ten weeks of protests have plunged the international finance hub into crisis with the communist mainland taking an increasingly hardline tone, including labelling the more violent protester actions "terrorist-like". Chinese state media have put out images of military personnel and armoured personnel carriers across the border in Shenzhen, while the United States has warned Beijing against sending in troops, a move many analysts say would be a reputational and economic disaster for China. The nationalistic Global Times newspaper said there would not be a repeat of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in which hundreds or even thousands are believed to have been killed if Beijing moves to quash the protests. "The incident in Hong Kong won't be a repeat of the June 4th political incident in 1989," it said, insisting the country now had more sophisticated approaches. It was a rare reference to the bloody events, which are taboo in China. Hong Kong's protests were sparked by opposition to a plan to allow extraditions to the mainland, but have since morphed into a wider call for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city. Millions of people have hit the streets while clashes have broken out between police and small groups of hardcore protesters for 10 consecutive weekends. For most of that time, US President Donald Trump has taken a hands-off approach to the unrest but began speaking up this week, suggesting any potential trade deal with Beijing could be upended by a violent response from the mainland. Speaking on Thursday, Trump urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to meet protesters and solve the crisis "humanely". Huge Sunday rally planned Activists are now planning to hold a major rally on Sunday, which is being billed as a "rational, non-violent" protest designed to show the movement still maintains broad public support after suffering a setback earlier in the week. On Tuesday, protesters blocked passengers from boarding flights at the city's airport and later assaulted two men they accused of being Chinese spies. The shocking images damaged a movement that until then had largely only targeted the police or government institutions, and prompted some soul-searching among protesters. China's propaganda apparatus seized on the violence, with state-media churning out a deluge of condemnatory articles, pictures, and videos. Sunday's rally is being put together by the Civil Human Rights Front, a protest group that advocates non-violence and has previously been the driving force behind record-breaking rallies in June and July that saw hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets. "This coming Sunday should be another million-strong march. Hong Kong people can't be defeated, Hong Kongers soldier on," prominent pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo wrote on Facebook. But the likelihood of renewed clashes over the weekend remains high. On Saturday, activists have vowed to gather in Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan two harbourside districts popular with mainland Chinese tourists despite police banning their proposed marches. And while police have permitted protesters on Sunday to rally in a major park on Hong Kong island, they have forbidden demonstrators from marching through the city. Previous bans in the last few weeks have simply been ignored by demonstrators, leading to running battles with riot police. Authorities say they have been compelled to ban recent rallies because of increasing violence used by hardcore protesters, who have often targeted police stations alone their marching routes with bricks, slingshots and Molotov cocktails. Toe the line Hong Kong maintains freedoms unknown on the authoritarian mainland under a 50-year deal that came into effect when the former colony was handed back to China by Britain in 1997. Many Hong Kongers say those liberties are being eroded and have hit the streets in huge numbers in recent years. Yet their demands to elect their leaders and halt sliding freedoms have fallen on deaf ears. The current protests are the biggest threat to Beijing's authority since the handover and as violence has escalated, party leaders have only hardened their tone. Beijing has also ordered Hong Kong's companies and influential tycoons to toe the line. On Friday Cathay Pacific announced the shock resignation of its CEO Rupert Hogg after the Hong Kong carrier was excoriated by Beijing because some staff supported the pro-democracy protests. Many tycoons have published statements calling for an end to the protests, the latest coming from the city's wealthiest man Li Ka-Shing who took out adverts in seven Hong Kong newspapers.

Hong Kong protesters face crucial weekend test after airport setback

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that US President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.

"We are open for business, but we're not for sale," Greenland's foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters.

Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russias-floating-nuclear-reactor-ready-for-arctic-operations-environmentalists-concerned-232605">Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings</a> with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Talk of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.&nbsp;

Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the notion had been laughed off by some advisers as a joke but was taken more seriously by others in the White House.

Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the idea.

"It has to be an April Fool's joke. Totally out of season," former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Twitter.

"If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad," foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People's Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR.

"The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous," he said.

Greenland, a self-ruling part of Denmark located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is dependant on Danish economic support. It handles its domestic affairs while Copenhagen looks after defence and foreign policy.

"I am sure a majority in Greenland believes it is better to have a relation to Denmark than the United States, in the long term," Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Danish MP from Greenland's second-largest party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), told Reuters.

"My immediate thought is 'No, thank you'," she said.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were not available for comment but officials said they would respond later on Friday.

The US Embassy in Copenhagen was also not immediately available for comment.

"Oh dear lord. As someone who loves Greenland, has been there nine times to every corner and loves the people, this is a complete and total catastrophe," former US ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, said in on Twitter.

Greenland is gaining attention from global superpowers including China, Russia, and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.

In May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic and China's actions there had to be watched closely as well.

A defence treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the US military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.

There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for Trump's talks with Danish officials.

Martin Lidegaard, the senior lawmaker of the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former foreign minister, called the idea "a grotesque proposal" which had no basis in reality.

"We are talking about real people and you can't just sell Greenland like an old colonial power," he told Reuters.

"But what we can take seriously is that the US stakes and interest in the Arctic is significantly on the rise and they want a much bigger influence," he added.

In 1917 Denmark sold off the then Danish West Indies islands for $25 million to the United States, which renamed them the United States Virgin Islands.

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that US President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that US President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island. "We are open for business, but we're not for sale," Greenland's foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters. Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. Talk of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the notion had been laughed off by some advisers as a joke but was taken more seriously by others in the White House. Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the idea. "It has to be an April Fool's joke. Totally out of season," former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Twitter. "If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad," foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People's Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR. "The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous," he said. Greenland, a self-ruling part of Denmark located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is dependant on Danish economic support. It handles its domestic affairs while Copenhagen looks after defence and foreign policy. "I am sure a majority in Greenland believes it is better to have a relation to Denmark than the United States, in the long term," Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Danish MP from Greenland's second-largest party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), told Reuters. "My immediate thought is 'No, thank you'," she said. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were not available for comment but officials said they would respond later on Friday. The US Embassy in Copenhagen was also not immediately available for comment. "Oh dear lord. As someone who loves Greenland, has been there nine times to every corner and loves the people, this is a complete and total catastrophe," former US ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, said in on Twitter. Greenland is gaining attention from global superpowers including China, Russia, and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources. In May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic and China's actions there had to be watched closely as well. A defence treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the US military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland. There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for Trump's talks with Danish officials. Martin Lidegaard, the senior lawmaker of the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former foreign minister, called the idea "a grotesque proposal" which had no basis in reality. "We are talking about real people and you can't just sell Greenland like an old colonial power," he told Reuters. "But what we can take seriously is that the US stakes and interest in the Arctic is significantly on the rise and they want a much bigger influence," he added. In 1917 Denmark sold off the then Danish West Indies islands for $25 million to the United States, which renamed them the United States Virgin Islands.

Greenland tells US President Donald Trump it is open for business but not for sale

China hits out at media, Western forces on provoking Hong Kong protests. Watch the video to know more.

Hong Kong Protests: China hits out at media, Western forces

WION Speed News: Watch top national and international news of the evening - August 16th, 2019

While in the Indian Ocean heading toward the Strait of Malacca, the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Pacific Bravo went dark on June 5, shutting off the transponder that signals its position and direction to other ships, ship-tracking data showed.

A&nbsp;US government official had warned ports in Asia not to allow the ship to dock, saying it was <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/oil-tanker-bound-for-syria-seized-in-gibraltar-for-sanctions-busting-233017">carrying Iranian crude in violation of&nbsp;US economic&nbsp;sanctions.</a>

A VLCC typically transports about 2 million barrels of&nbsp;oil, worth about $120 million at current prices.

On July 18, the transponder of the VLCC Latin Venture was activated offshore Port Dickson, Malaysia, in the Strait of Malacca, about 1,500 km (940 miles) from where the Pacific Bravo had last been signalling its position.

But both the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo transmitted the same unique identification number, IMO9206035, issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), according to data from information provider Refinitiv and VesselsValue, a company that tracks ships and vessel transactions.

Thomson Reuters has a minority stake in Refinitiv.

Since IMO numbers remain with a ship for life, this indicated the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo were the same vessel and suggested the owner was trying to&nbsp;evade&nbsp;Iranian&nbsp;oil sanctions.

"Without speculating on any particular shipowners' actions, generally speaking for a ship to change its&nbsp;name&nbsp;abruptly after receiving accusations from the&nbsp;US, it can only be that the owner is hopeful that the market will be deceived by something as rudimentary as a&nbsp;name&nbsp;change," said Matt Stanley, an&nbsp;oil&nbsp;broker at StarFuels in Dubai.

The vessel is&nbsp;owned&nbsp;by Kunlun Holdings, which, according to data from Equasis.org, a shipping transparency website set up by the European Commission and the French Maritime Administration, is based in Shanghai.

The company also has an office in Singapore.

Calls to the company's offices were unanswered.

While operating as the Pacific Bravo, the ship's transmission data showed that its cargo tanks were full before it turned off the transponder.&nbsp;

When it reappeared 42 days later as the Latin Venture, it was empty, according to Refinitiv and VesselsValue data.

Reuters was not able to ascertain where or if the&nbsp;oil&nbsp;onboard the Latin Venture was offloaded.

According to a statement from the Marine Department Malaysia, the Latin Venture entered Port Dickson on June 29 for a crew change and departed on July 18.

The statement said that no cargo was discharged.

The United States reimposed&nbsp;sanctions&nbsp;on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 accord involving Tehran and six world powers that limited Iran's nuclear programme.&nbsp;

Aiming to cut Iran's&nbsp;oil&nbsp;sales to zero, Washington in May ended sanction waivers given to some importers of Iranian&nbsp;oil.

Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment.

&nbsp;Fax to&nbsp;China's Foreign Ministry asking for comment was not immediately answered.

Responding to a Reuters request for comment on its reaction to the&nbsp;name&nbsp;change, a&nbsp;US State Department spokesman said on Aug. 1: "We do not preview our&nbsp;sanctions&nbsp;activities, but we will continue to look for ways to impose costs on Iran in an&nbsp;effort&nbsp;to convince the Iranian regime that its campaign of destabilising activities will entail significant costs."

After departing Port Dickson, the&nbsp;tanker&nbsp;sailed past Singapore to the southeastern coast of Malaysia and on July 25 it transmitted that its cargo tanks were nearly full

As of August 14, the ship remains there, ship-tracking data shows.

The origin of oil&nbsp;cargo could not be determined.

While in the Indian Ocean heading toward the Strait of Malacca, the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Pacific Bravo went dark on June 5, shutting off the transponder that signals its position and direction to other ships, ship-tracking data showed.

While in the Indian Ocean heading toward the Strait of Malacca, the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Pacific Bravo went dark on June 5, shutting off the transponder that signals its position and direction to other ships, ship-tracking data showed. A US government official had warned ports in Asia not to allow the ship to dock, saying it was carrying Iranian crude in violation of US economic sanctions. A VLCC typically transports about 2 million barrels of oil, worth about $120 million at current prices. On July 18, the transponder of the VLCC Latin Venture was activated offshore Port Dickson, Malaysia, in the Strait of Malacca, about 1,500 km (940 miles) from where the Pacific Bravo had last been signalling its position. But both the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo transmitted the same unique identification number, IMO9206035, issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), according to data from information provider Refinitiv and VesselsValue, a company that tracks ships and vessel transactions. Thomson Reuters has a minority stake in Refinitiv. Since IMO numbers remain with a ship for life, this indicated the Latin Venture and the Pacific Bravo were the same vessel and suggested the owner was trying to evade Iranian oil sanctions. "Without speculating on any particular shipowners' actions, generally speaking for a ship to change its name abruptly after receiving accusations from the US, it can only be that the owner is hopeful that the market will be deceived by something as rudimentary as a name change," said Matt Stanley, an oil broker at StarFuels in Dubai. The vessel is owned by Kunlun Holdings, which, according to data from Equasis.org, a shipping transparency website set up by the European Commission and the French Maritime Administration, is based in Shanghai. The company also has an office in Singapore. Calls to the company's offices were unanswered. While operating as the Pacific Bravo, the ship's transmission data showed that its cargo tanks were full before it turned off the transponder. When it reappeared 42 days later as the Latin Venture, it was empty, according to Refinitiv and VesselsValue data. Reuters was not able to ascertain where or if the oil onboard the Latin Venture was offloaded. According to a statement from the Marine Department Malaysia, the Latin Venture entered Port Dickson on June 29 for a crew change and departed on July 18. The statement said that no cargo was discharged. The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 accord involving Tehran and six world powers that limited Iran's nuclear programme. Aiming to cut Iran's oil sales to zero, Washington in May ended sanction waivers given to some importers of Iranian oil. Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment. Fax to China's Foreign Ministry asking for comment was not immediately answered. Responding to a Reuters request for comment on its reaction to the name change, a US State Department spokesman said on Aug. 1: "We do not preview our sanctions activities, but we will continue to look for ways to impose costs on Iran in an effort to convince the Iranian regime that its campaign of destabilising activities will entail significant costs." After departing Port Dickson, the tanker sailed past Singapore to the southeastern coast of Malaysia and on July 25 it transmitted that its cargo tanks were nearly full As of August 14, the ship remains there, ship-tracking data shows. The origin of oil cargo could not be determined.

China-owned oil tanker changes the name in apparent effort to evade US sanctions

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on Richter Scale struck off Jorm village in Badakhshan province in north-eastern <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/taliban-could-give-pakistan-a-short-term-win-in-afghanistan-243138">Afghanistan</a> early Friday morning.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake occurred around 02:09 (UTC).&nbsp;

The epicentre was located at a depth of 210.3 kilometres southwest of Jorm, along the Hindu Kush region.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property as a result of the quake.

Last week the region was rattled by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale with its epicentre located 17 kilometres east of Farkhar, a province located in the northeast of the mountainous country close to the border with Tajikistan.

According to the India Meteorological Department, mild tremors of the earthquake were also felt in the Delhi-NCR region on the same day.

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on Richter Scale struck off Jorm village in Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan early Friday morning. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake occurred around 02:09 (UTC).

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on Richter Scale struck off Jorm village in Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan early Friday morning. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake occurred around 02:09 (UTC). The epicentre was located at a depth of 210.3 kilometres southwest of Jorm, along the Hindu Kush region. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property as a result of the quake. Last week the region was rattled by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale with its epicentre located 17 kilometres east of Farkhar, a province located in the northeast of the mountainous country close to the border with Tajikistan. According to the India Meteorological Department, mild tremors of the earthquake were also felt in the Delhi-NCR region on the same day.

5.2 magnitude quake hits northeast Afghanistan

July 2019 temperatures were the hottest ever recorded globally, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday, while satellite data showed polar ice shrank to its lowest levels.

July 2019 temperatures were the hottest ever recorded globally, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday, while satellite data showed polar ice shrank to its lowest levels. According to the NOAA, the average global temperature for the month was 0.95 degrees Celsius (1.71 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average of 15.8 degrees Celsius (60.4 Fahrenheit), making it the hottest July in its records, which go back to 1880. "Much of the planet sweltered in unprecedented heat in July, as temperatures soared to new heights in the hottest month ever recorded. The record warmth also shrank Arctic and Antarctic sea ice to historic lows," the agency said. The findings confirmed data released by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service on August 5, though the margin of the new record compared to the last, on July 2016, was greater according to the US data. Searing heat waves saw records tumble across Europe last month, while in the US, nearly 150 million people struggled to stay cool from the Midwestern plains to the Atlantic coast and local media reported at least six deaths. The new high is all the more notable because the previous followed a strong El Nino, which boosts average global temperatures beyond the impact of global warming alone. El Ninos are naturally occurring weather events triggered by periodic warming every three to seven years in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Declining polar sea ice "Nine of the 10 hottest July have occurred since 2005 with the last five years ranking as the five hottest," the NOAA said, based on its data from weather stations, ship reports, and buoys. Alaska had its hottest July since it began keeping records in 2005, several countries in Europe saw their heat records smashed, and it was also the hottest month ever across Africa as a whole. There were some regions with cooler than average temperatures including parts of Scandinavia and western and eastern Russia, where temperatures were at least 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) below average or cooler. Average Arctic sea ice meanwhile set a record low for July, at 1.9 million square kilometres (726,000 square miles), 19.8 per cent below average, and surpassing the previous historic low of July 2012. Average Antarctic sea ice was 675,000 square kilometres (260,000 square miles), 4.3 per cent below the 1981-2010 average, making it the smallest for July in the 41-year record. Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described global warming and the breaking of recent records as a "climate emergency." "We have always lived through hot summers. But this is not the summer of our youth. This is not your grandfather's summer." US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2017 from the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to cap global warming at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But a federal climate assessment released by the NOAA last November found that climate change "is affecting the natural environment, agriculture, energy production, and use, land and water resources, transportation, and human health and welfare across the US and its territories."

July 2019 hottest month on record for the planet: US agency

Western intermediaries are trying to persuade arch-foes Iran and the United States to cooperate on bolstering security in Afghanistan as US President Donald Trump seeks to extract America from its longest war, according to three sources familiar with the efforts.

Western intermediaries are trying to persuade arch-foes Iran and the United States to cooperate on bolstering security in Afghanistan as US President Donald Trump seeks to extract America from its longest war, according to three sources familiar with the efforts. The intermediaries, the sources say, secretly have been relaying messages between Washington and Tehran for months in hopes of getting the sides talking at a time of heightened hostility on a range of issues. "Afghanistan is one area where there is common ground," one source with knowledge of the correspondence told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The White House declined to comment and the US State Department did not respond to requests for comment. Iran officially denies any back-channel talks with the United States over any topic. The United States and Iran share an interest in ensuring that a departure of the more than 20,000 US-led foreign troops does not plunge Afghanistan into a civil war that restores the Taliban's harsh version of Islamic rule, and does not allow al Qaeda or other Sunni Muslim extremist groups to expand there. Moreover, with US sanctions hampering its economy, Tehran wants to avoid Afghans fleeing to neighbouring Iran if there was a surge in bloodletting, regional experts said, as has happened over decades of war in the central Asian country. Trump and Tehran have another shared interest: Both want US troops out of Afghanistan. There are no signs, however, that either Tehran or Washington are ready to put aside disputes over Iran's nuclear program and the US and Iranian activities and alliances in the Mideast to cooperate on Afghanistan. One message seen by Reuters and conveyed to Washington outlined Iran's concerns with the Trump administration's negotiations with the Taliban on a US troop withdrawal and intra-Afghan talks on a political settlement. Afghan-born veteran US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has erred in taking "over-zealous shortcuts by talking directly to the Taliban," a senior Iranian official said in the message. This approach has given "political supremacy" to the Taliban as they are gaining militarily, the message said. Taliban leaders, it continued, have told their Iranian interlocutors they will not "accept anything less than a Taliban-dominated government" that rules "an Islamic emirate." Shi'ite Muslim-dominated Iran long has been wary of the Sunni Muslim Taliban. It nearly went to war during Taliban rule when the militants killed at least eight Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist in 1998. Back Channel Direct contact between Iran and the United States would be a stark contrast to the tensions that took them to the brink of military confrontation after Iran downed an unmanned US drone in the Gulf in June and Trump then halted a retaliatory air strike on Iran's coast. While Iran is open to talks, it wants at the very least a suspension of US sanctions designed to slash its oil exports to zero, Tehran's main source of income, according to two sources familiar with the US and Iranian positions. Iranian officials believe that a new peace process should be devised in which the Afghan government - which has been excluded from the US-Taliban talks in Qatar - played a "dominant" role, the message said. Several back-channel efforts, the sources said, are driven by a hope that cooperation on Afghanistan could lead to negotiations to lower the tensions ignited when Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 international agreement designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief. But one source familiar with the US and Iranian positions said as far as Iran was concerned, if Washington acknowledged common interests in Afghanistan "and is willing to talk to Iran based on equality about those common interests, then Iran will talk to the United States." Now all Iran is getting from the United States is that they have no common interests, the source added. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton oppose any sanctions relief for Iran and were opposed to any talks on Afghanistan, believing Tehran will give in to US demands, one of the sources said, who asked not to be identified. The US State Department declined to comment. One former Afghan official pointed out that since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban government, Iran has built ties to the Taliban that it could use to help shape a peace settlement and a US troop withdrawal. Iran "could be very valuable," said Ali Jalali, who served as Afghanistan's first post-Taliban interior minister. "This is a very good opportunity for Iran." Tehran maintains high-level Taliban contacts and is a haven for some insurgent families. It has supplied limited quantities of weapons to the insurgents to keep the pressure on US forces near its border, according to Western officials. Pompeo has accused Iran of being a "co-conspirator" of the Taliban. But some regional experts counter that Tehran is hedging its bets in case the militants return to power. It also sees the Taliban as a counterforce to the Islamic State's Afghan affiliate. Tehran also wields influence in Kabul, having backed Afghan governments for nearly two decades. Iran maintains close ties with the Shi`ite Hazaras, Afghanistan’s third-largest ethnic group, and strongmen of other ethnic minorities. Washington and Tehran, regional experts said, also share the goal of preventing Afghanistan from reverting to a base of Sunni Muslim extremist groups, especially an affiliate of Islamic State, whose avowed enemies include the United States and Iran. Whether Iran can play a meaningful role in any peace effort, or that Washington would allow it to do so, is an open question, said Ryan Crocker, a former US ambassador to Kabul. "I'm pretty skeptical that they (the intermediaries) will get any traction ... because of the policy this administration has developed on Iran. I`m afraid that ship has sailed."

Shared Afghanistan interests create an opening for US-Iran backchannel: Report

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