General election 2019: Farage calls on Johnson to 'build Leave alliance' - BBC News

Nigel Farage has called on Boris Johnson to ditch his Brexit deal and "build a Leave alliance".

At the launch of the Brexit Party's election campaign, the leader said bringing the parties together was "the only way" forward.

But he warned Mr Johnson that if he turned down his offer, the party would field candidates in "every single seat" in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Conservatives have consistently ruled out a formal pact with the party.

A Tory source told the BBC: "A vote for Farage risks letting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street via the back door. It will not get Brexit done and it will create another gridlocked Parliament that doesn't work."

It comes after President Donald Trump said Mr Farage and Boris Johnson should team up as "an unstoppable force".

Recent opinion polls have shown the Conservatives with a double-digit lead over Labour.

But some Tories fear that Mr Farage's candidates could split the pro-Brexit vote and prevent their party from winning a majority in 12 December poll.

BBC Political Correspondent Alex Forsyth said the risk for the Brexit Party was that they could help Labour win seats by taking votes away from Conservative candidates, and that could lead to another EU referendum under a Jeremy Corbyn-led government.

'It is not Brexit'

Mr Farage has been critical of Mr Johnson's failure to deliver on his promise that the UK would leave by Halloween.

He used the launch to condemn the PM's deal, urging him to "drop [it] because it is not Brexit".

Instead, Mr Farage urged him to pursue a free trade agreement with the EU - similar to the deal the bloc has with Canada - and to impose a new deadline of 1 July 2020 to get it signed off.

If an agreement was not done by then, the UK should leave the EU without a deal and move to World Trade Organisation trading rules.

"I would view that as totally reasonable," he said. "That really would be Brexit."

But Mr Farage said if Mr Johnson did not pursue the route, the Brexit Party would contest every seat in the country - with 500 candidates ready to sign the forms to stand on Monday.

"The Brexit Party would be the only party standing at these elections that actually represents Brexit," he said.

Labour targets

The party leader also attacked Labour for a "complete and utter betrayal on Brexit" - and said his party would target Labour seats in the Midlands and North of England.

He said Labour's plan to renegotiate a deal then put it to a referendum was offering a choice of "remain or effectively remain".

Mr Farage said there were five million Labour voters who had supported Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, meaning his party "posed a very major problem" for Jeremy Corbyn.

• How many Labour supporters voted Leave?

"So many Labour Leave seats are represented by Remain members of Parliament," he said. "We view those constituencies around the country among our top targets."

He ridiculed the reported Conservative plan to target "Workington man" - Leave-supporting traditional Labour voters in northern towns - saying Tories needed get out of London more.

On the other side of the Brexit debate, Remain-supporting parties have been negotiating electoral pacts in certain constituencies.

The potential agreements would see the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru stand aside for each other to ensure the election of as many MPs who back a second Brexit referendum as possible.

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said it was "no secret" that the his party was "talking to the Lib Dems and Plaid" but "nothing has been finalised".

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2019-11-01 11:25:19Z
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Healthcare may trump Brexit in battle for British vote - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - As Britain’s “Brexit election” campaign swings into action, it may not be the country’s exit from the European Union which takes centre stage but another national obsession - the health service.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson greets and speaks to nurses at National Institute for Health Research at the Cambridge Clinical Research Facility, in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, Britain October 31, 2019. Alastair Grant/Pool via REUTERS

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cast the Dec. 12 election as necessary to break the deadlock in parliament over Brexit, telling voters that only by returning his Conservatives with a majority can the country finally quit the European Union.

But many supporters of the opposition Labour Party, whose ambiguous position over Brexit has alienated some voters, believe the best chance of winning power is to focus the debate on other issues.

The state-run National Health Service (NHS), which has provided free at the point of use healthcare for more than 70 years, is a hugely emotive issue. Opinion polls consistently show voters cite it as the second biggest issue after Brexit.

Struggling under the pressure of record demand due to a growing and ageing population, as well as cut backs to social care services, the NHS has warned it faces a shortfall in funding despite government promises of extra money.

Despite its cherished status, complaints about long waiting times for consultations and operations, crumbling hospitals and staff shortages are a regular feature of public discourse.

Labour plan to make the NHS a big part of their campaign.

“This government has put our NHS into crisis, and this election is a once-in-a-generation chance to end privatisation in our NHS, give it the funding it needs,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Wednesday, attacking Johnson in parliament.

Corbyn’s central charge: the NHS is at risk of being sold off to American corporations in any post-Brexit trade deal Johnson’s government does with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service,” Corbyn said to cheers from the audience at his campaign launch in southwest London on Thursday.

“Quite bluntly, it’s not for sale,” he said, as the crowd rose to its feet and chanted: “Not for sale, not for sale.”

Johnson has repeatedly said the NHS would not be on the table in any trade talks but opposition lawmakers say they do not trust him.

Trump, who said during a visit to Britain in June that everything including health would be on the table in trade talks but then backtracked and said health would not be, told LBC radio that Corbyn’s claim was ridiculous and he did not know where it came from.

Asked about whether the health service would be up for grabs in trade talks, Trump said: “No, not at all, we wouldn’t even be involved in that, no.”

“No. It’s not for us to have anything to do with your healthcare system,” he said. “No, we’re just talking about trade.”

WINTER CRISIS?

The face of a “Leave” campaign which promised to spend the money Britain sends to the EU on the NHS instead, Johnson’s message to voters is he would deliver Brexit so Britain can move on to focus on priorities such as health, education and policing.

“BackBoris for more NHS funding so that you and your family get the care you need,” the Conservatives said on Twitter, as Johnson visited a hospital on his first day of campaigning. He has done at least 9 hospital visits since taking office in July.

During one such visit he was confronted by a Labour activist and father of a sick child, who said the care his baby daughter had received had not been acceptable and that the health service had been destroyed by the Conservatives.

The NHS led two newspaper front pages on Thursday, with the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror splashing: “Election warning: Boris and Trump plot NHS sell-off”, while the pro-Conservative Daily Mail read: “Poll: Boris more trusted than Corbyn on NHS”.

Created by a Labour government in 1948, the NHS is one of the biggest employers in the world and in 2019-20 is due to account for 166 billion pounds ($215.04 billion), or around 20 percent, of Britain’s annual public spending.

It has traditionally been strong ground for Labour, with polls usually showing them as more trusted on the NHS. A December election, Britain’s first winter vote since 1923, could play to that strength.

Pressure on the NHS increases during the winter months, adding to public concern and fuelling newspaper headlines about the annual “NHS winter crisis”.

“Most years you see a spike in the issues tracker for the NHS in the winter months as you get stories about winter crisis, waiting times going up,” said Chris Curtis, Political Research Manager at polling firm YouGov.

YouGov’s latest research showed 32 percent of voters viewed Labour as best able to handle the NHS, versus 26 percent for the Conservatives. In contrast, just 9 percent believed Labour was best on Brexit, compared to 24 percent for the Conservatives.

“It is much better for Labour to be focusing on the NHS than it is for them to be focusing on Brexit,” said Curtis. “It is very likely that that could end up helping Labour in this campaign.”

Many opinion polls give Johnson’s Conservatives a double digit lead over Labour, but it is early days in a six-week campaign.

At the last snap election, in 2017, Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May saw her party’s large poll lead all but evaporate during the campaign, ultimately losing her small majority in parliament on election day.

($1 = 0.77 pounds)

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-11-01 10:46:13Z
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North Korea, emboldened by Trump peril and Chinese allies, tries harder line - Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - Successful sanctions evasion, economic lifelines from China and U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment woes may be among the factors that have emboldened North Korea in nuclear negotiations, analysts and officials say.

Both Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continue to play up the personal rapport they say they developed during three face-to-face meetings. But North Korea has said in recent days that it is losing patience, giving the United States until the end of the year to change its negotiating stance.

North Korea has tested the limits of engagement with a string of missile launches, including two fired on Thursday, and experts warn that the lack of a concrete arms control agreement has allowed the country to continue producing nuclear weapons.

The missile tests have practical value for the North Korean military’s efforts to modernize its arsenal. But they also underscore Pyongyang’s increasingly belligerent position in the face of what it sees as an inflexible and hostile United States.

In a best-case scenario, Thursday’s launch was an attempt to make the December deadline feel more urgent to the U.S., said Andray Abrahamian, a visiting scholar with George Mason University Korea.

“Still, I think that Pyongyang has concluded they can do without a deal if they must,” he said. “The sad thing is I think that will lock in the current state of affairs, with its downsides for all stakeholders, for years to come.”

‘NOT SO PROMISING’

Trump’s reelection battle and the impeachment inquiry against him may have led Kim to overestimate North Korea’s leverage, said one diplomat in Seoul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

“It looks like Kim has a serious delusion that he is capable of helping or ruining Trump’s reelection, but no one in Pyongyang can stand up to the unerring leader and say he’s mistaken – you don’t want to be dead,” the diplomat told Reuters. “And Trump is all Kim has. In order to denuclearize, Kim needs confidence that Trump will be reelected.”

The Americans, meanwhile, came into working-level talks on Oct. 5 in Stockholm with the position that North Korea must completely and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program, and pushed for a moratorium on weapons tests as part of a first step, the diplomat said.

Although some media reports said the United States planned to propose temporarily lifting sanctions on coal and textile exports, the diplomat said the talks in Stockholm did not get into details.

“The U.S. can’t take the risk of easing sanctions first, having already given a lot of gifts to Kim without substantial progress on denuclearization, including summits,” the diplomat said. “Sanctions are basically all they have to press North Korea.”

When American negotiators tried to set a time for another round of talks, North Korean officials were uncooperative, the diplomat said.

“The prospects are not so promising,” the diplomat added.

ECONOMIC LIFELINES

Although United Nations sanctions remain in place, some trade with China appears to have increased, and political relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have improved dramatically.

Kim and China’s president, Xi Jinping, have met several times, and the two countries exchange delegations of government officials.

A huge influx of Chinese tourists over the past year appears to be a major source of cash for the North Korean government, according to research by Korea Risk Group, which monitors North Korea.

Korea Risk Group chief executive Chad O’Carroll estimates as many as 350,000 Chinese tourists have visited this year, potentially netting the North Korean authorities up to $175 million.

That’s more than North Korea was making from the Kaesong Industrial Complex - jointly operated with South Korea before it was shuttered in 2016 - and is almost certainly part of why Kim is showing less interest in U.S. proposals, O’Carroll said.

The United States and South Korea suggested tourism, rather than resuming the Kaesong operation, as a potential concession to the North after the failed second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February, the Seoul-based diplomat said.

“That’s based on the consensus that any sanctions relief should be immediately reversible, but once the 120-plus factories are put back in, it’s difficult to shut it down and pull them out again,” the diplomat said.

The United Nations, meanwhile, has reported that North Korea is successfully evading many of the sanctions, and that the government may have stolen as much as $2 billion through cyber attacks.

“Stockholm suggests Pyongyang is also fine with their ‘Chinese backstop’, i.e. whatever agreement they have on lax sanctions enforcement,” Abrahamian said. “I worry that instead of trying to get a deal, they think Trump will be more desperate for a win than he actually is and will miss the window.”

INTERNAL DEBATE

Trump and Kim’s second meeting abruptly fell apart when both sides refused to budge, with North Korea demanding wide-ranging sanctions relief and the Americans insisting on concrete disarmament steps.

“It’s very clear that the failure of Hanoi triggered a debate inside North Korea about whether Kim’s path - moving down the road to denuclearization - was the right way to go,” said Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington.

For now, North Korea seems inclined to avoid engaging further with the United States or South Korea until they make more concessions, Wit said.

FILE PHOTO: People watch a TV broadcast showing a file footage for a news report on North Korea firing two projectiles, possibly missiles, into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, in Seoul, South Korea, October 31, 2019. REUTERS/Heo Ran/File Photo

Other analysts are skeptical that Kim will ever give up his hard-won nuclear weapons, but say the opportunity for even a limited arms control deal may be slipping away.

“North Korea appears to be interested only in a deal under its terms to the exact letter,” said Duyeon Kim, with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security.

“Pyongyang is able to demand more, be tougher, and raise the bar because its confidence comes from  qualitative and quantitative advancements in its nuclear weapons,” Kim said.

Reporting by Josh Smith. Editing by Gerry Doyle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-11-01 08:19:45Z
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Healthcare may trump Brexit in battle for British vote - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - As Britain’s “Brexit election” campaign swings into action, it may not be the country’s exit from the European Union which takes centre stage but another national obsession - the health service.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson greets and speaks to nurses at National Institute for Health Research at the Cambridge Clinical Research Facility, in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, Britain October 31, 2019. Alastair Grant/Pool via REUTERS

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cast the Dec. 12 election as necessary to break the deadlock in parliament over Brexit, telling voters that only by returning his Conservatives with a majority can the country finally quit the European Union.

But many supporters of the opposition Labour Party, whose ambiguous position over Brexit has alienated some voters, believe the best chance of winning power is to focus the debate on other issues.

The state-run National Health Service (NHS), which has provided free at the point of use healthcare for more than 70 years, is a hugely emotive issue. Opinion polls consistently show voters cite it as the second biggest issue after Brexit.

Struggling under the pressure of record demand due to a growing and ageing population, as well as cut backs to social care services, the NHS has warned it faces a shortfall in funding despite government promises of extra money.

Despite its cherished status, complaints about long waiting times for consultations and operations, crumbling hospitals and staff shortages are a regular feature of public discourse.

Labour plan to make the NHS a big part of their campaign.

“This government has put our NHS into crisis, and this election is a once-in-a-generation chance to end privatisation in our NHS, give it the funding it needs,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Wednesday, attacking Johnson in parliament.

Corbyn’s central charge: the NHS is at risk of being sold off to American corporations in any post-Brexit trade deal Johnson’s government does with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service,” Corbyn said to cheers from the audience at his campaign launch in southwest London on Thursday.

“Quite bluntly, it’s not for sale,” he said, as the crowd rose to its feet and chanted: “Not for sale, not for sale.”

Johnson has repeatedly said the NHS would not be on the table in any trade talks but opposition lawmakers say they do not trust him.

Trump, who said during a visit to Britain in June that everything including health would be on the table in trade talks but then backtracked and said health would not be, told LBC radio that Corbyn’s claim was ridiculous and he did not know where it came from.

Asked about whether the health service would be up for grabs in trade talks, Trump said: “No, not at all, we wouldn’t even be involved in that, no.”

“No. It’s not for us to have anything to do with your healthcare system,” he said. “No, we’re just talking about trade.”

WINTER CRISIS?

The face of a “Leave” campaign which promised to spend the money Britain sends to the EU on the NHS instead, Johnson’s message to voters is he would deliver Brexit so Britain can move on to focus on priorities such as health, education and policing.

“BackBoris for more NHS funding so that you and your family get the care you need,” the Conservatives said on Twitter, as Johnson visited a hospital on his first day of campaigning. He has done at least 9 hospital visits since taking office in July.

During one such visit he was confronted by a Labour activist and father of a sick child, who said the care his baby daughter had received had not been acceptable and that the health service had been destroyed by the Conservatives.

The NHS led two newspaper front pages on Thursday, with the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror splashing: “Election warning: Boris and Trump plot NHS sell-off”, while the pro-Conservative Daily Mail read: “Poll: Boris more trusted than Corbyn on NHS”.

Created by a Labour government in 1948, the NHS is one of the biggest employers in the world and in 2019-20 is due to account for 166 billion pounds ($215.04 billion), or around 20 percent, of Britain’s annual public spending.

It has traditionally been strong ground for Labour, with polls usually showing them as more trusted on the NHS. A December election, Britain’s first winter vote since 1923, could play to that strength.

Pressure on the NHS increases during the winter months, adding to public concern and fuelling newspaper headlines about the annual “NHS winter crisis”.

“Most years you see a spike in the issues tracker for the NHS in the winter months as you get stories about winter crisis, waiting times going up,” said Chris Curtis, Political Research Manager at polling firm YouGov.

YouGov’s latest research showed 32 percent of voters viewed Labour as best able to handle the NHS, versus 26 percent for the Conservatives. In contrast, just 9 percent believed Labour was best on Brexit, compared to 24 percent for the Conservatives.

“It is much better for Labour to be focusing on the NHS than it is for them to be focusing on Brexit,” said Curtis. “It is very likely that that could end up helping Labour in this campaign.”

Many opinion polls give Johnson’s Conservatives a double digit lead over Labour, but it is early days in a six-week campaign.

At the last snap election, in 2017, Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May saw her party’s large poll lead all but evaporate during the campaign, ultimately losing her small majority in parliament on election day.

($1 = 0.77 pounds)

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-11-01 09:47:20Z
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China's top political body met in secret and issued an ominous message to Hong Kong - CNN

It also came with a stark message for Hong Kong.

The four-day plenum, which ended Thursday, came at a time of huge pressure on Chinese President X Jinping's government, including an ongoing trade war with the United States, a slowing domestic economy and violent protests in the former British colony.

The official communique only contained broad references to "increasing challenges at home and abroad." No definite plans or new policies were presented by the lengthy document.

One thing that was made clear though was that Xi is still firmly in charge, despite the recent troubles.

"The plenary session calls for the entire party and peoples of all nationalities to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as the core," the statement said.

The Communist Party Central Committee's almost 400 members meet semi-annually to formulate new policy and approve personnel changes at the top level of government. The committee met for its fourth plenum in Beijing this week.

Among praise for the government and Communist Party buzzwords, there was an ominous message from the Chinese government for Hong Kong protesters, now in their 21st week of demonstrations.

"We must establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in (Hong Kong and Macao)," the official statement read.

Safeguarding national security

Hong Kong has now been a thorn in the Chinese government's side for more than four months.

Mass protests which began over a controversial China extradition law have grown into more violent demonstrations over fears around Beijing's tightening grip on the important financial hub.

Until now, the Chinese government has been relatively restrained on the protests, stating their support for the Hong Kong government and their faith in local authorities to resolve the crisis.

But there have been hints of tougher action by Beijing if the demonstrations grew out of control or if they crossed any of the Communist Party's "bottom lines."

"Don't ever misjudge the situation and mistake our restraint for weakness," Yang Guang, spokesman for mainland China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said in August.

It is almost certain that the situation in Hong Kong was widely discussed behind closed doors in Beijing during the fourth plenum this week but very little of that appears in the final communique.

"Hong Kong and Macao must be governed in strict accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law, and the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao should be safeguarded," the statement said.

It then stated the need to "improve" the legal system and enforcement mechanism in Hong Kong and Macao.

That is likely to be a euphemism for enacting Hong Kong's hugely controversial Article 23 national security law, according to Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and longtime analyst of Chinese politics.

"Of course we don't have hard and fast evidence but I think a logical conclusion would be the introduction of Article 23," Lam said, adding that Chinese officials had been pushing for it behind closed doors for some time.

Part of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's de facto constitution, Article 23 calls on the local government to "enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government."

But attempts to bring it into force in 2003 led to massive protests and it hasn't been touched since.

"It would be very divisive, especially after what happened in the past four or five months," Lam said. "If Beijing were to introduce Article 23, then the stormy weather will be back. It will exacerbate conditions."

Xi triumphant

The Communist Party's plenum meetings are one of the country's main forums for major changes of party policy and have previously changed the course of Chinese history.

In 1978, it was during a plenum that then-Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping began the policy of economic opening which would turn China into an economic powerhouse.

It was at the second plenum in January 2018 that the Communist Party agreed to remove term limits on the office of the Chinese presidency, effectively allowing Xi to remain president for life.

In the lead-up to this week's plenum, there were rumors of possible personnel changes at the top levels of the Chinese government which could begin to outline a successor to Xi.

The Party Secretary of industrial city Chongqing, Chen Min'er, was reported to be in the running for a seat on the Communist Party's Standing Committee. It would have been a huge promotion and a clear sign of big things to come.

It followed whispers of dissatisfaction with Xi and his tight grip on power. Since the trade war with the US began in mid-2018, it had been rumored that opposition to the Chinese president was growing behind closed doors. So far, Xi has even refused to nominate any potential successor, a break from modern Communist Party tradition and a sign that he retains a significant hold on power.

In the end, there were no major changes, and no personnel announcements other than the automatic promotion of two new alternate members to the Central Committee.

Instead the president and his signature Xi Jinping Thought are mentioned prominently in the communique, from domestic and international policy to military advancement.

"We must firmly establish the guiding position of Xi Jinping's strong military thinking in national defense and army building," the statement says.

If the communique is an accurate representation of what happened behind closed doors, Xi Jinping is here to stay.

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2019-11-01 07:32:04Z
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Hong Kong just entered a recession. Experts say economy will 'remain weak' amid protests, trade war - CNBC

Hong Kong protesters donned Halloween masks in Lan Kwai Fong on Thursday evening, defying an emergency law that bans face coverings.

Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images

Hong Kong's economy will likely "remain weak" for the rest of this year, economists and trade experts told CNBC on Friday.

"They're getting hit on two fronts. The protests are impacting retail sales. It is impacting tourism. Added to that, of course, you've got the U.S.-China trade war, which is impacting exports. So, we're expecting that it is unlikely that we're going to see a positive growth in Q4. We're going to see further contraction," said Sian Fenner, lead Asia economist at Oxford Economics.

The Asian financial hub slid into a recession for the first time in a decade in the third quarter, according to government data published Thursday. The city's statistics agency said domestic consumption weakened amid ongoing anti-government protests. It also cited the protracted U.S.-China trade war as another factor, as Hong Kong reported "an enlarged decline" in exports.

Billy Wong, deputy director of research at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said that Hong Kong's negative growth did not exactly come as a surprise.

"The number is not that happy, but I wouldn't say it's really a surprise. I think it was really expected for Hong Kong to facing economic downturn," said Wong.

He agreed that the trade war and protests are the main factors contributing to the contraction in Hong Kong's economy. Wong noted, however, that while exports have slowed since last November, the city's GDP didn't contract until the third quarter of this year. When asked, he agreed that weak consumption and a slowing economy could lead to layoffs in sectors like dining and retail.

But one industry has seen some positive growth, Wong said. As people avoid the streets, supermarkets benefit as people buy more home necessities, he said.

Hong Kong may report negative growth this year as the economy reels from more than four months of social unrest, Financial Secretary Paul Chan wrote in a blog post.

Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Weak consumer spending

Local businesses told CNBC they are certainly feeling the financial impact of domestic unrest. Even shops in the normally bustling Wan Chai district are getting hit.

Kitty Chan, who works at her parent's flower shop, said she's noticed that far fewer people are buying bouquets for functions. She estimated that profits have dropped 50% for the shop, which she said had been in the district for 15 years.

"If the protest continue, I think it really drops ... They will be coming to buy the flower in the morning, in the morning time, afternoon time, after 7 o'clock they're all gone," she said.

Andy Ho, who works at a pharmacy in Wan Chai, gave similarly grim figures: "Our store has been here for 50 years. Our business has really declined in recent months — close to 40%."

He said as long as the social unrest remains unresolved, the economy "will remain weak."

"For our store, 70% of our customers are local and 30% are tourists. Among the 30% tourists, 80% of them have disappeared. As for locals, in the recent months, people are really less willing to spend ... the economy in the next few months will still be weak," said Ho.

Hong Kong — a former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 — has been crippled by widespread demonstrations since early June. Reuters reported on Thursday, local police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters, many dressed in black and wearing now-banned face masks, mixed in with people dressed up for Halloween in the city.

Oxford Economics' Fenner said the biggest uncertainty for the city right now is when the protests will end, and "until that stops" key domestic drivers like retail and tourism will struggle to grow.

China-US trade war

In a Friday note, Bank of America Merill Lynch wrote that Hong Kong may be facing a "prolonged recession" and lowered its full-year GDP forecast to a 2.1% year-over-year decline. Its previous 2019 GDP forecast projected a more muted decline of 0.1%.

"Hong Kong is particularly vulnerable to external demand weakness, given its reliance on tourism and dependence on the Chinese economy. Many sectors (tourism, retail, hotel, catering and transportation) have already taken a blow from the months of disruptions to business. Not to mention that high level of uncertainty also significantly impaired business confidence and suppressed investment demand," the bank wrote.

The U.S. and China were set to meet in Chile to sign "phase one" of the trade deal. But President Donald Trump announced that the trip was cancelled on Thursday due to protests in the South American nation, adding that "the new location will be announced soon" for the two leaders' signing.

While Oxford Economics' Fenner said "phase one" will likely "go ahead," this does not mean the trade war is done. She said that there will most likely be more "flip flopping" moving ahead but probably no more escalations in terms of tariffs.

"But the damage has already been done. We've got tariffs now, that 18 months ago on average about 3%. They're now over 20%. And we're not looking for those tariffs being removed anytime soon," said Fenner.

With no end in sight for either the protests or trade tensions between China and the U.S., HKTDC's Wong said, "for the rest of this year, things will remain weak."

But Wong is hopeful that maybe as China and the U.S. both see a slowdown in their economies, they will be more inclined to strike a deal, and thus relieving some trade pressure for Hong Kong.

— CNBC's Vivian Kam contributed to this report.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the flower shop in Wan Chai has been open for 15 years. A previous version misstated how long it had been operating.

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2019-11-01 06:06:02Z
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'Satisfaction': N Korea confirms tested multiple rocket launcher - Al Jazeera English

North Korea confirmed on Friday it conducted a third test of a new "super-large" multiple rocket launcher that it says expands its ability to destroy enemy targets in surprise attacks, as nuclear talks with the United States remain in limbo. 

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described the tests a day after South Korea and Japan said they detected two projectiles launched from an area near Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

North Korea has been moving to enhance its military capabilities.

The latest test of the rocket launcher follows two tests in August and September of the same weapon. 

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Kim Jong Un "expressed satisfaction" at the success of the tests and congratulated the scientists who had developed the weapon, KCNA said, suggesting that Kim was not at the site.

North Korea's state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, published a photo of the multiple rocket launcher, surrounded by yellow flames and smoke.

Thursday's test verified that the "continuous fire system" of the multiple rocket launchers was able to "totally destroy" a group target of the enemy with a surprise strike, KCNA added.

Military officials in Japan and South Korea said on Thursday afternoon that the North had tested a projectile that travelled more than 322 kilometres (200 miles) across the country before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan had lodged a protest over the test, which he described as a missile launch and said was "extremely regrettable".

'Escalatory behaviour'

“North Korea is engaged in increasingly escalatory behaviour," US Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy said in a statement.

"This launch and continued North Korean aggression underscore the need for the Trump Administration to recommit to the maximum pressure policy" and for Congress to impose additional sanctions against the Kim government, Gardner said.

However, South Korea's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said the North's missile launches did not pose "very grave threats".

"We're also test-firing missiles, no less than North Korea does," he told a parliamentary session. "Our missile defence and intercept capabilities are absolutely superior to theirs."

The weapons test is the first since working-level talks on October 5 between the US and North Korea ended without agreement.

North Korea has repeatedly emphasised an end-of-the-year deadline for denuclearisation talks with Washington that Kim set earlier this year.

Although Kim and US President Donald Trump have a "special" relationship, "Washington political circles and DPRK policymakers of the US administration are hostile to the DPRK for no reason," a North Korean statement on KCNA said last month.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name for North Korea.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/korea-confirms-tested-multiple-rocket-launcher-191101003818983.html

2019-11-01 03:46:00Z
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