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☆ Benjamin Netanyahu, a hawk in the eye of the storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as lawmakers gather at the Knesset plenum to vote on a bill that would limit some Supreme Court power, in Jerusalem July 24, 2023. POLARIZINGPerhaps the most polarizing of Israel's leaders, but a supreme pragmatist, Netanyahu had always been seen as a recognizable conservative - pro-business and tough on security. A stocky, imposing figure, his poise and flawless American English have underlined his outsized role on the world stage. That meant closing ranks with religious and ultra-nationalist parties untroubled about upsetting Israel's allies with their openly expansionist agenda. A lifelong security hardliner and a scourge of liberal opinion, Netanyahu described himself in his autobiography - "Bibi My Story" - as "conservative but decidedly not extreme".

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yariv Levin, Yoav Gallant, Amir Cohen JERUSALEM, Netanyahu, Herzi Halevi, pragmatist, Israel's, Bibi, Itamar Ben, Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Joe Biden, James Mackenzie, Christina Fincher Organizations: REUTERS, Special Forces, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Israel

The extreme heat is prompting violent typhoons in Asia and flash floods in the United States. But to the pragmatist, extreme heat is the new normal. The good news: Investors are spending big on climate projects. Global warming helps make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense, and it will continue getting worse unless humans essentially stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, scientists say. “There’s been huge, huge progress” in developing green technologies and bringing down their costs, said Bella Tonkonogy, the U.S. director of Climate Policy Initiative whose funders include the Bloomberg Foundation and the German government.

Persons: it’s, El Niño, Carl, Friedrich Schleussner, ” “, ”, DealBook, “ There’s, Bella Tonkonogy Organizations: Analytics, Global, Venture, Initiative, Biden, Bloomberg Foundation Locations: Asia, United States, Berlin, U.S

☆ Thanks, From Your Newsletter Anchor
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Somini Sengupta | More About Somini Sengupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, I wrap up my turn at helming this newsletter. It’s why I chose to anchor this newsletter for you. I wanted to show you, in short, bite-size pieces, not just the perils of global warming, but who is doing what to address it. I wanted to walk us through sometimes impenetrable debates and explain, simply, how it matters for everyday people in our everyday lives. I wrote from a place of neither hope nor despair, exactly, but from the perspective of an OK-now-what-do-we-do pragmatist.

Persons: Douglas Alteen, Manuela Andreoni, Claire O’Neill, Adam Pasick, Sharm el Sheikh, “ Locations: Sharm el

☆ Democrats Spar Over the ‘Prickly, Prickly Subject’ of Immigration
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Katie Glueck | Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Democrats have a much broader spectrum to cover, from those that are in what I would call the immigration advocacy community, to those who I would consider the pragmatic moderates and everything in between,” Ms. Napolitano said. Ms. Napolitano, who describes herself a pragmatist on immigration, said she had also confronted these tensions as attorney general and governor of Arizona. “There are those who believe sincerely and honestly that the United States should not deport people,” Ms. Napolitano said. And some suggest that moderates in their party are mistakenly ceding ground to Republicans on the issue. “We are allowing, in some cases, Republicans to win the conversation about immigration and asylum seekers,” said Representative Delia Ramirez, a left-leaning Democrat from Chicago, whose mother crossed the border while pregnant with her.

[1/4] Paraguayan presidential candidate Santiago Pena from the ruling Colorado Party gestures next to his wife Leticia Ocampos at the party headquarters as he and his running mate Pedro Alliana won Paraguay's presidential race, according to the preliminary official count, in Asuncion, Paraguay April 30, 2023. Still, Pena will be able to keep a cool head amid the tumult, his supporters say. "I think what characterizes him is that he has infinite tranquility," said Lea Gimenez, who served as Pena's deputy when he was finance minister and was later finance minister herself. Throughout the campaign the Colorado Party candidate has vowed to extend Paraguay's decades-long diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite pressures to open up to China and its huge consumer demand for soybeans and beef. He became finance minister in 2015.

[1/4] China's newly-elected Premier Li Qiang takes an oath after being elected during the fourth plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on March 11, 2023. Previously the Communist Party chief in Shanghai, Li was confirmed as premier during the National People's Congress, charged with managing the world's second largest economy. "Officials know that Li Qiang is Xi Jinping's guy," he said. "He clearly thinks that Li Qiang is a very competent person and he has put him in this position because he trusts him and he expects a lot of him." American author Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who met Li and Xi together in 2005 and 2006, said the two shared an easy rapport.

Previously the Communist Party chief in Shanghai, Li is poised to be confirmed as premier on Saturday during the ongoing National People's Congress, charged with managing the world's second largest economy. Trey McArver, co-founder of consultancy Trivium China, said Li is likely to be much more powerful than his predecessor. "Officials know that Li Qiang is Xi Jinping's guy," he said. "He clearly thinks that Li Qiang is a very competent person and he has put him in this position because he trusts him and he expects a lot of him." American author Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who met Li and Xi together in 2005 and 2006, said the two shared an easy rapport.

☆ Incoming BOJ chief Ueda to speak in parliament as yield cap comes under attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A general view shows a parliamentary session at the Lower House of Parliament in Tokyo, Japan November 10, 2021. In a column issued last July, Ueda warned against raising rates prematurely but said the BOJ must eventually consider how to exit its ultra-loose policy. The government's deputy governor nominees - former banking watchdog head Ryozo Himino and BOJ executive Shinichi Uchida - will testify in the afternoon after Ueda. The upper house of parliament will hold the confirmation hearing for Ueda on Monday, and that for the two deputies on Tuesday. Under YCC, the BOJ guides short-term interest rates at -0.1% and the 10-year bond yield around 0% as part of efforts to sustainably achieve its 2% inflation target.

☆ UK economy in 'a lot better shape' than bleak figures suggest, fund manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

People walk outside the Bank of England in the City of London financial district, in London, Britain, January 26, 2023. Henry Nicholls | ReutersLONDON — The U.K. has thus far avoided a widely anticipated recession, and the signs from the business world are that the economy may be holding up better than feared, according to veteran Schroders fund manager Andy Brough. Figures published earlier this month showed that the U.K. GDP contracted by 0.5% in December, as the economy flatlined over the final quarter of 2022 to narrowly avoid a technical recession. "Underneath companies' profitability x-minus today, we're seeing pretty good dividend increases, pretty good earnings statements, so, underlying, I think the economy is in a lot better shape. 'Signs of life' in business investment Uncertainty over future relations between Westminster and Brussels have hammered business investment since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in 2016, in turn hampering productivity expansion and adding to the direct costs of Brexit on the U.K. potential growth.

☆ Kazuo Ueda, Tapped as Bank of Japan Chief, Is Seen as Pragmatic Insider
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Megumi Fujikawa | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kazuo Ueda isn’t a Bank of Japan lifer, but people who know him say he is the next closest thing to one. TOKYO— Kazuo Ueda , who was picked Tuesday to lead Japan’s central bank, is a pragmatist steeped in the institution’s culture who is likely to seek balance among competing camps, say people who know him. In his writings, Mr. Ueda, 71, tends to discuss scenarios and risks without advocating any position, sometimes irking those who want more aggressive action.

☆ At BOJ's helm, MIT-educated Ueda to put theory into practice
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

At MIT, he studied economics under Stanley Fischer, whose students include former U.S. Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. He is a good listener and a consensus-builder, rather than a leader with a strong view on the direction of monetary policy, they say. "His style is to discuss monetary policy based on facts and evidence," said Tetsuya Inoue, who was Ueda's staff secretary when he was a central bank board member. In a column published in July, Ueda warned against raising rates prematurely in response to cost-push inflation - a sign he would be in no rush to tighten monetary policy. Upon approval by parliament, Ueda will assume the top BOJ post on April 9 and chair his first policy-setting meeting on April 27-28.

Ueda, a 71-year-old former Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy board member, will succeed incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda, whose second, five-year term ends on April 8, according to documents presented to parliament on Tuesday. Analysts expect Ueda, who had warned of the dangers of premature interest rate hikes in the past, to hold off on tightening monetary policy. "Ueda is likely to focus on theory and empirical analysis in guiding monetary policy," said Naomi Muguruma, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Upon parliament's approval, Ueda will chair his first BOJ policy meeting on April 27-28. A soft-spoken academic with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ueda is seen as a pragmatist who can adjust his views on monetary policy flexibly.

World markets this week will be dominated by U.S. inflation figures on Tuesday, leaving Monday free for investors in Asia to digest the previous session's action on Wall Street and adjust positioning ahead of the numbers. Indian consumer price inflation for January tops Monday's Asian economic calendar. Revised figures on Friday showed that inflation in December was a little stronger than originally reported, and a closely-watched consumer inflation expectations survey showed a notable spike in the short-term outlook. Tough talking on inflation from Fed officials was matched last week by their peers in Australia, India and Sweden, so the push is global. Sources have told Reuters that 71-year old academic Kazuo Ueda, a former Bank of Japan policy board member has been lined up to replace Haruhiko Kuroda as BOJ governor.

☆ Iran's 'death committee' president unyielding in defence of clerical rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Raisi, then deputy prosecutor general for Tehran, was a member of the capital's death committee, according to Amnesty. In 2016, another member of the Tehran "death committee" said, "We are proud to have carried out God's order,” state media reported. "Raisi has been brought up as president for a few reasons, including his brutality, loyalty, and lack of conscience. SANCTIONED BY U.S.Raisi was born in 1960 to a religious family in Iran's northeastern Shi'ite Muslim city of Mashhad. Khamenei, not the president, has the final say on all major policy under Iran's dual political system split between the Shi'ite clerical establishment and the government.

☆ Op-ed: Oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber is the ideal person to lead the UN climate conference this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Frederick Kempe | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Nowhere is this shift among climate activists more evident than in Germany, where Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, the Green Party leader, is serving as the pragmatist-in-chief. Some climate activists were aghast this Thursday when the UAE named Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), as president of this year's COP 28. Al Jaber, speaking to the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum on Saturday, captured his ambition to drive faster and more transformative results at COP 28. "We are way off track," said Al Jaber. "We will work with the energy industry on accelerating the decarbonization, reducing methane, and expanding hydrogen," said Al Jaber.

WASHINGTON — After a grueling five-day, 15-ballot floor fight for speaker, House Republicans on Monday night will face what's expected to be the first of many tough legislative battles ahead: Passing a package of rules that will govern how they run the House over the next two years. These are the easy part[s], the speaker vote and the rules vote," Gonzales said on Fox News on Monday. Because of their razor-thin majority, McCarthy’s leadership team can only afford to lose four GOP votes on the rules package for the new Congress. GOP leaders, including new Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, indicated Monday that they believe Republicans will be able to stick together and pass the rules package. "Obviously the rules package is the first piece allowing us to get started with our agenda to fight for the American people," Scalise told reporters.

Jailed for graft in 2018 - the year right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro was elected - Lula's convictions were overturned in 2019, allowing him to oust Bolsonaro in October's election. The more ideological Lula who emerged from jail in 2019 should not be a cause for concern, friends and allies said. Lula's spokesman Jose Chrispiniano said the president supported fiscal responsibility and believes that strengthening the economy is the best way to combat poverty. "Good morning, President Lula," his devotees would chant as the day began, followed by "Good night, President Lula," as he went to bed. From his 15-square-meter cell on the third floor of the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, Lula set about reorganizing the PT and managing his legal defense.

☆ Analysis: Iran's unrest sounds death knell for once vibrant reformists
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

It highlighted the main problem facing reformists in a system where Khamenei, 83 and in power since 1989, wields ultimate power. "People feel reformists helped hardliners by promising reforms that were impossible with hardliners in power," a former official who served in the Khatami administration told Reuters. The reform movement is dead." That view has been echoed in the streets where protesters have grouped reformists with hardliners as part of the problem. The fact is that the reform movement is dead, its has been dead for some time," he said.

Kathy O’Neil, 68, told NBC News at a campaign stop in Erie that she felt Shapiro has "done so much for us." His support from law enforcement, including the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association and Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police — two groups that have endorsed Oz in the Senate race — stood out to her, too. (Mastriano, 58, has said Shapiro has a “grudge” against the church, while some Catholic organizations believe Shapiro went too far). To take on Shapiro, Mastriano has struggled greatly to raise money and draw financial support from outside Republican groups to boost his campaign. During a campaign stop in Clarion, Shapiro pledged to advocate for "forgotten" parts of the state.

☆ China’s No. 2 Is a Business Pragmatist and a Party Loyalist. Which Will Prevail?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Keith Zhai | Chun Han Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Xi Jinping ’s new right-hand man, Li Qiang, has shown two sides to his personality over his career. Mr. Li, whom Mr. Xi appointed last month as China’s new No. 2, is known inside the country as a pro-business pragmatist unafraid to push the boundaries of Communist Party rule. Party insiders say he’s also a loyalist who will implement Beijing’s policies effectively and aggressively when needed.

Xi Jinping consolidated his power in China with a reshuffle of the politburo standing committee. He also used the event to unveil the new members of the politburo standing committee. He is a new entry to the standing committee, and at 60, is its youngest member. He is another new member of the politburo standing committee and will help lead the central commission for discipline inspection. He previously worked as the party leader in Yan'an, which once served as the headquarters of the party before it took control of the whole country.

A helicopter flies over the downtown skyline, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, as seen from the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, April 20, 2020. ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi's three main sovereign wealth funds, began in 2018 as a vehicle for holding state assets. ADQ and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Among recent deals, ADQ launched a $300 million technology fund in March with Turkey's sovereign wealth fund to invest in venture capital funds and opportunities inside Turkey. "They are the ones that promote UAE economic diplomacy, its regional and global influence," he said.

☆ How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World
▼ + stars: | 2019-04-03 | by ( Jonathan Mahler | Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +61 min

Murdoch family, 1987: Lachlan, James, Anna and Rupert. The second season of HBO’s “Succession,” whose fictional media family, the Roys, bears a striking resemblance to the Murdochs, airs this summer. ‘A press dictatorship’To understand how the Murdoch empire works, it is essential to return to its origins. The bigger Murdoch’s empire became, the more power he had to clear away obstacles to further its expansion. Like his father, Lachlan considered the idea of meddling with such an important profit driver a form of madness.

Persons: ‘, Rupert Murdoch, Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Lachlan’s, Lachlan, —, Hall, President Trump, Theresa May, Robert A, consummating, Rupert, Elisabeth, Anna, James, David Graves, Rex, Prudence, Murdoch’s, Patricia Booker, Anna Mann, jockeying, Murdoch didn’t, ” Murdoch, Ron Galella, ‘ I’ve, Graham, Jeff Bezos, William R, Hearst, George Hearst, Ochs, Sulzberger, Arnold Newman, HBO’s, Australia —, “, don’t, Trump, Rutger Bregman, Tucker Carlson, Carlson, — Murdoch, Dow Jones, Bancroft, ’, Keith Murdoch, Keith, Joseph Lyons, Tom Roberts’s, ” Lyons, ”, I’ll, ” Rupert Murdoch, Aubrey Hart, Roberts, ” Keith, Margaret Thatcher’s, Thatcher, revel, John Major, Neil Kinnock, Joseph Stalin, Britain’s, Roy Cohn —, Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan’s, Roger Stone Jr, Murdoch weaponize, Reagan’s, Stone, Reagan, George H.W, Bush, L.A, Ted Turner, Roger Ailes, Nixon, George H.W . Bush, Time Warner, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Post —, Fox, Monica Lewinsky, ” David Frum, George W, Sumner, Peter Mathew, Fairfax, Chase Carey, Talib Kweli, Rawkus, Kathryn Hufschmid, Kathryn, ” Lachlan, Sarah O’Hare, Lachlan doesn’t, Chris Mitchell, — he’d, Wendi Murdoch, Wendi, Jules Stein, Leonardo DiCaprio, James warily, Ivanka Trump, Ivanka’s, Jared Kushner, Kushner, Ivanka, Wendi’s, Donald Trump, Ailes, Rudolph Giuliani’s, Corey Lewandowski, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bret Baier’s, Baier, Stephen F, Hayes, ” Trump, Tell Hayes, Sean Hannity, Sinclair —, Doug Mills, Megyn Kelly, — “ You’ve, — Trump, Kelly, Charles Krauthammer, John Kasich, James’s, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Hillary, Clinton, United States —, Paul Gigot, Obama, Al Drago, Anthony Hilton, Hilton, Rodrigo Duterte, Viktor Orban, europhiles, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, David Cameron, feckless, Leveson, Robinson, Mick Jagger, Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Farage, Evgeny Lebedev, Carlo Allegri, Murdoch lounging, What’s, lodestar, David Rhodes, Rhodes, Ben Rhodes, Kevin Hagen, he’d, Trump’s, Jeff Rovin, Satan, James Murdoch, Clint Spaulding, Patrick McMullan, James Stavridis Organizations: Northern, Fox News Channel, Sun, European Union —, Downing, Walt Disney Company, Century Fox, Disney, Getty, News Corp, Trust, Washington Post, Hearst Corporation, United, The New York Times, Arnold Newman Properties, Fox, White, Broadway, Fox News, Trump White, Street, Melbourne Herald, Weekly Times, ”, Eugenics Society of Victoria, Oxford, Murdoch, Fleet, The, British government’s, Sky Television, Britain’s “, Labor, Trump, Gov, Reagan’s, New, New York Post, The Boston Herald, CNN, Time, Republican, Post, Pew, Republicans, CBS, Viacom, British Sky Broadcasting, Australia spearfishing, Harvard, The Harvard, Rawkus Records, Princeton, Kawasaki, Hollywood, New York Observer, York mayoral, Fox & Friends, Trump International Golf Club, Gateway, America, New York Times, Clinton Climate Initiative, Labor Party centrist, Pacific Partnership, Tea Party, European Union, Freedom Party, Nazi, London, Press Association, Associated Press, Brexit Times, United Nations, Reuters, Photographers, CBS News, Democrat Locations: Macedonia, Southern, San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, United States, Britain, London, Australia, Australian, Sydney, Lachlan, Davos, New York, Dutch, Iraq, British, Gallipoli, Adelaide, White Australia, Luxembourg, York, George H.W ., Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Indonesia, Oregon, Fiji, Murdoch, Cavan, Beverly Hills, L.A, Caribbean, earshot, West Palm, Des Moines, Iowa, Ohio, Clinton, Trump, Downing, Brussels, Europe, Philippines, Manila, Bangkok, Cannes, “, Trump’s, Scotland, Aberdeen, Ailes’s, Russian

☆ Bob Newhart, Button-Down Comic, Is Still Standing Up at 76
▼ + stars: | 2006-03-25 | by ( Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But a comedian craves the sound of laughter, and Mr. Newhart, though happily deep into his golf-playing years, cannot stay away from the stand-up circuit. It's like Russian roulette -- you're out there and it's working and you're saying, 'Thank God the bullet's not in the chamber.' "Mr. Newhart built his career on a persona that would avoid tension and thrills at all cost. ("You take a pinch of tobacco and you stuff it up your nose and it makes you sneeze? Yeah, I imagine it would, Walt!")

Persons: David McCulloch, Joseph J, Ellis, Bob Newhart's, Newhart, Sir Walter Raleigh, Walt Organizations: Brooklyn Center, Performing Arts Locations: ANGELES, Bel

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