Month: May 2017

Having admitted that their Memorial Day Weekend blockbuster scoop that President Trump's son-in-law "discussed the possibility of setting up a secure communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak,"  is really a non-story because, as they state themselves "It is common for senior advisers of a newly elected president to be in contact with foreign leaders and official," The Washington Post reports that President Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster agrees this is a non-story, saying Saturday he "would not be concerned" about having a back-channel communications system with Russia.

WaPo reports that McMaster and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who together briefed reporters Saturday, were unwilling to discuss the Kushner matter, as was White House press secretary Sean Spicer. White House officials insisted the briefing be conducted off-camera, preventing photographers or television cameras from documenting it.

As McMaster and Cohn took the stage in the briefing room, a television screen just over their shoulder played CNN, which at that moment aired a discussion of the Kushner-Russia story under a "breaking news" banner.

"We're not going to comment on Jared," Cohn said.

 

"We're just not going to comment."

McMaster said he could not talk about Kushner's talks with Russia because "it's not something that I've in any way been involved with or that I have any knowledge of."

However, as WaPo reports, McMaster, a decorated three-star Army general, was asked whether he would be concerned if an official on his National Security Council staff or elsewhere in the Trump administration sought a back-channel communications system with the Russian embassy or the Kremlin in Moscow. His response is telling…

"No," McMaster said. "We have back-channel communications with a number of countries. So, generally speaking, about back-channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discreet manner."

 

He continued, "No, I would not be concerned about it."

The Washington Post reports that the press conference grew more tense after that… we suspect the reason is clear, The White House would not be drawn into the non-story narrative that the entire press corps wants to run with for the weekend.

via http://ift.tt/2r9sbBV Tyler Durden

After failing to thwart two terror attacks that have occurred in the U.K. so far this year – both of which were carried out by suspected jihadis who were known to U.K. authorities – intelligence agencies have identified 23,000 potential jihadis living in Britain, according to a report published in the Times of London on Saturday. 

The report emerged after U.K. Prime Minster Theresa May downgraded the terror threat to “severe,” after raising it “critical” on Tuesday in the aftermath of the attacks.

Of this 'pool' of potential terrorists, 3,000 are suspected of posing an “imminent threat” and are being investigated accordingly, the Times reports. Meanwhile, the other 20,000 have been involved with past investigations and have been categorized as posing a “residual risk.”

Both suspected Manchester attacker Salman Abedi and Westminster killer Khalid Masood were in a pool of “former subjects of interest” and were no longer the subject of surveillance efforts, the Times reported. Abedi, a 23-year-old whose parents immigrated to the U.K. from Libya, killed 22 kids, in addition to himself, on Monday when he detonated a bomb just as attendees of a concert by American singer Ariana Grande were rushing for the exits following her performance.

The report comes amid intensifying criticism of the intelligence agencies, who have been accused of doing an inadequate job identifying former “subjects of interest” who have returned to extremism. 

The notion that there are 23,000 potential jihadis in the U.K. is “horrifying,” said Anthony Glees, head of security and intelligence at the University of Buckingham.

“We should double the size of MI5, as we did in World War II, and expand the number of intelligence-led police by the thousands.”

Meanwhile, thousands of soldiers will remain deployed on Britain’s streets through Monday, the Times reported.

We leave it to Nigel Farage to sum up a nation's concerns…

UK authorities have identified 23,000 potential jihadist extremists. The problem is much worse than we first thought. http://pic.twitter.com/Qu2Ap210kl

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 26, 2017

via http://ift.tt/2qZEhNz Tyler Durden

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

There may not be a single notion among leftists that is more groan inducing than cultural appropriation. These people flip their lids every time someone borrows an idea from another culture. To them you’re a racist if you act, speak, or dress like anyone who isn’t from your tribe, or if you even celebrate their holidays. And of course, it generally only applies to white people, as if they’re going to ruin every culture they touch.

Now this petty belief is ruining reputations and livelihoods. It Portland, Oregon, it forced two successful business owners to close up shop. Kali Wilgus and Liz ‘LC’ Connelly, who are two white women, started a burrito business several months ago called Kooks Burritos. It was an instant hit. Last week they revealed in an interview with a local newspaper, that they had learned some of their recipes during a trip to Mexico.

Explaining their trip, Connelly told the newspaper: ‘I picked the brains of every tortilla lady there in the worst broken Spanish ever, and they showed me a little of what they did.

 

‘In Puerto Nuevo, you can eat $5 lobster on the beach, which they give you with this bucket of tortillas. They are handmade flour tortillas that are stretchy and a little buttery, and best of all, unlimited.

 

‘They wouldn’t tell us too much about technique, but we were peeking into the windows of every kitchen, totally fascinated by how easy they made it look. We learned quickly it isn’t quite that easy.’

After the article was published, social media lit up with accusations of cultural appropriation. The outrage snowballed after a writer for the Portland Mercury slammed the two women for cultural appropriation, and “colonizing” recipes from Mexican cuisine.

‘This week in white nonsense, two white women—Kali Wilgus and Liz ‘LC’ Connely—decided it would be cute to open a food truck after a fateful excursion to Mexico,’ the piece opened.

 

‘The owners of Kooks Burritos all but admitted in an interview with Willamette Week that they colonized this style of food.

 

‘So let’s recap the story thus far: These two white women went to Mexico, ate tacos, and then decided they would just take what the locals clearly didn’t want to give them.

 

‘If that wasn’t bad enough, they decided to pack up all their stolen intellectual property and repackage it.’

The business was also eviscerated on Yelp by hyperventilating social justice warriors.

Somehow, I find it quite funny that there’s some sad sack out there, cautiously protecting his precious tortilla recipe from white people, but I digress.

Amid this backlash, the two women have shut down their business, seemingly without comment. Their website, Facebook account, Instagram account, and Twitter profile have all disappeared. And all because they were white people who had the audacity to serve burritos to the public.

Cultural appropriation is a bizarre concept when you think about it. It demands that you treat every culture like an animal in a zoo. You can admire them from afar, but don’t you dare touch.

It’s also a sign of severe cognitive dissonance among leftists. They claim they want everyone in the world to mix and live in peace, but they snap at people who dare to share another culture.

Ironically, it sounds an awful lot like regular old racism. It used to be that liberals fought ideologies that segregated races and cultures. Now these people are fighting for the same thing that racists in the past fought for; which is to maintain the purity of certain races and cultures. And just as it was in the past, this deluded belief is ruining lives.

via http://ift.tt/2r9fJBY Tyler Durden

After a week of dismal housing data, a silver lining perhaps. The spike in U.S. mortgage rates since the November presidential election has been cut in half.

As Bloomberg notes, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped in the week ended Thursday to a six-month low of 3.95 percent, according to Freddie Mac data.

In the seven weeks after the election, borrowing costs increased by 75 basis points to 4.32 percent at the end of December, the highest since April 2014.

They’ve since managed to retreat 37 basis points – potentially good news for homebuyers and builders as the spring selling season continues to disappoint.

As MishTalk's Mike Shedlock reminds us: Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says “Demand is easily outstripping supply in most of the country.”

How long can Yun’s silly argument go on?

There is not a supply shortage. Rather, there is a supply shortage of homes people can afford at which buyers are willing to sell. If homes were priced to sell, more homes would sell.

Despite rising prices, buyers want higher prices than they can get. At some point, rising prices were bound to choke off sales.

It’s too early to conclude a sustainable downtrend in housing has started, but if it has, it would be on top of an overall slowdown in consumer spending led by a slowdown in auto sales.

Here is my estimate of the economic and Fed consensus: Don’t worry, it’s just a temporary soft patch in March, April, and May. The second quarter half recovery is still on schedule.

via http://ift.tt/2qqgLXa Tyler Durden

Bitcoin dropped over $900 from its record high at $2760 on Thursday in the last 48 hours, but has bounced back to remain up 17% week-over-week.

A 30% drop from Thursday's highs…

 

But Bitcoin is still up around 140% year-to-date…

While the volatility is unprecedented, Liberty Blitzkrieg's Mike Krieger notes it is indicative of the emotional excesses as investors experience the difference between fear and concern of what lies ahead for the global financial system (and indeed the status quo).

The last 24 hours were quite interesting for me, and have sparked all sorts of thoughts and tangents in my mind. I’ve been absolutely thrilled that yesterday’s post, A New Financial System is Being Born, has been so well received in the broader Bitcoin/crypto/tech world, but I also noticed a meaningful contradiction. While the post has been cheered beyond the confines of this website, within Liberty Blitzkrieg itself, it hasn’t been celebrated by anyone, at least not publicly in the comment section. In fact, if you scroll through the comment section of the post, you’ll see it’s basically 100% skepticism or dislike for Bitcoin. The reason I find this so interesting is because of what it tells me about sentiment.

I got a lot of insight from the comment section of this particular post because I know for a fact many of my readers love Bitcoin and have been involved in it for years. I know this based on private conservations I’ve had as well as many donations over the years. In a euphoric market environment, I’d expect the comment section to yesterday’s post to be filled with gloating, giddiness and “to da moon” commentary. There was absolutely none of that. In contrast, the skeptics were out in full force and totally dominated the discussion, which is fine. I want people to express different opinions and feel like they have the space to totally disagree with something I write. At the same time, it does tell me something about overall sentiment. The people who are long and sitting on gains are largely keeping their mouths shut, while the skeptics are very, very vocal. It’s not just here either, the skepticism and dislike for Bitcoin is even more prevalent within my Twitter feed. Incredibly, despite the recent enormous run, Bitcoin sentiment seems cautious-to-negative. Take that information as you see fit.

This sets the stage for the key part of this post which relates to the difference between fear and concern. One of these is a largely unproductive emotional state, while the other is a rational response to potential or real trouble. The reason Bitcoin sparked my interest in the topic is because I’ve witnessed a lot of people miss the Bitcoin run due to irrational fear, as opposed to reasoned concern. This isn’t to gloat about Bitcoin, or predict its future price. Pretty much everyone involved in this space for more than a few days understands that its price could completely collapse any minute and, despite all its advances, Bitcoin remains an experimental project that could end up worthless. I knew that back in 2012 when I first became involved and I know it now, yet I got involved anyway. Why did I do that?

The main reason is because I could see the potential and didn’t allow myself to make decisions based on fear. Fear overwhelms you, stunts your growth, makes you miss out on opportunities, and ultimately prevents you from living a fulfilled, interesting life. I know plenty of people who saw the potential of Bitcoin, but didn’t buy any or embrace it out of fear alone. Fear governments wouldn’t allow it. Fear the power grid would go down. Fear they’d be hacked. Fear overwhelmed them and prevented them from becoming involved in one of the few areas of this terribly corrupt economy filled with actual innovation and optimism. In my years in this space, I’ve found crypto currency people (especially the old school ones), to be some of the most humous, talented, decent and optimistic people I’ve ever met. So what if it goes to zero? The whole journey has been one of the most interesting of my entire life and worth every minute. As I noted on Twitter earlier today…

Brilliant, talented people are out there doing stuff, fearful envious people are warning me of doom.
Gonna bet with the former.

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) May 26, 2017

Which brings me to concern. While I always acknowledged many of the things Bitcoin skeptics pointed out, my response was concern, not fear. Concern allowed me to think things through and determine an appropriate allocation to something as unproven and risky as Bitcoin, but it didn’t propel me to avoid something I believed in and wanted to support. Concern is normal and healthy. It helps you take calculated risks and prompts reasonable measures to insure against catastrophe. Concern doesn’t freeze you up. It doesn’t prevent you from taking action or embracing new experiences. Fear does.

Fear is a negative emotion and mindset that only holds you back. It prevents calculated risk-taking, without which us humans would still be shivering in caves somewhere. We’ve all heard the saying “fortune favors the bold,” but you’ve never heard anyone say “fortune favors the fearful.” That’s because it doesn’t. And by fortune, we’re not just talking material wealth. We’re talking mental health, a breadth of experience and the joy and fulfillment that comes from a life of action as opposed to existing in a state of doom and gloom.

Of course, there are times when fear is appropriate and beneficial, but I’d argue pretty much only when you’re faced with a life or death situation, like in the middle of a war zone or being attacked by a wild animal. Fight or flight is very well established element of the human being for good reason, but unless you’re in a situation of extreme distress or danger, it’s almost always better off to avoid this state of mind.

I previously touched on this concept in my series on Spiral Dynamics. Here’s what I noted in the piece titled, What is Spiral Dynamics and Why Have I Become So Interested in It?

All of the madness being perpetrated by the media and divisive pundits on both sides needs to be seen in the context of this unfolding of consciousness. These people are in the fight for their lives to keep the current paradigm they are comfortable with alive. If you accept this view, then you recognize the importance of staying true to your values and not regressing back into first-tier type thinking. As Wilber and others explain, these are fluid states, so periods of stress or fear can result in a regression of consciousness. It’s not an exaggeration to say that preventing this from happening is of the utmost significance.

Expanding our consciousness is probably the most important work any of us can do on an individual basis, and fear is characteristic of the most base level of consciousness. As Ken Wilber described it:

   1. Beige: Archaic-Instinctual. The level of basic survival; food, water, warmth, sex, and safety have priority. Uses habits and instincts just to survive. Distinct self is barely awakened or sustained. Forms into survival bands to perpetuate life. 

      Where seen: First human societies, newborn infants, senile elderly, late-stage Alzheimer’s victims, mentally ill street people, starving masses, shell shock. 0.1% of the adult population, 0% power. 

People living a life consumed by fear are in many ways living as if they are mentally ill. Living life in fear is a voluntary choice for most of us, and it’s one of the most unproductive, unhealthy lifestyle choices a human being can make.

Which brings me to the point of this post. While it was inspired by some of the stuff I’ve witnessed related to Bitcoin and various people’s responses to it, it’s about much more than that. It’s about sharing some of the things I’ve learned over the years based on my own painful mistakes. I’ve found that it’s always better to be open-minded than stubborn, and that it’s always better to be a person of action as opposed to someone living in fear. Fear will bring nothing to you and those around you but misery and happiness. Concern is fine, but how you respond to the concern is what matters. Are you going to cower in a corner, or are you going to try to do something about it? Karma is action, and action is a huge part of being human.

via http://ift.tt/2r7feGx Tyler Durden

British Airways canceled all flights from London’s Heathrow and Getwick airports scheduled before 6 pm, after a global computer system outage caused massive delays and left planes stuck on runways. Earlier on Saturday, there were reports of BA staff telling disgruntled passengers trying to get away for the Bank Holiday weekend that the company was under cyber attack but this was denied by the airline.

#Breaking British Airways apologises to customers who are facing delays “following an IT outage”

— Press Association (@PA) May 27, 2017

The airline said terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick had become extremely congested because of the IT failure and all BA flights scheduled before 1700 GMT had been canceled. he airline also advised passengers against coming to the airports as it would not be able to help them.

“Please do not come to the airports. We have experienced a major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide,” the airline said in a statement.  “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this is causing our customers and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”

We apologise for the current IT systems outage. We are working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

— British Airways (@British_Airways) May 27, 2017

Passengers who were already at the airports were angry with the resulting chaos: 

“Still on the tarmac at Leeds. #britishairways reckon Heathrow is so backed up we can’t set off. No way we’ll make our Vegas flight,” one passenger David Raine wrote on Twitter.

Another, journalist Martyn Kent, wrote: “Sat on plane at Heathrow for hour and a half now. @British_Airways Captain describes IT problem as ‘catastrophic’.”

Passenger Roshni Burt, who was flying from Heathrow to Bahrain with her young son, said there was no news about when her flight would depart.

“When we left the check-in area there were angry people, people getting frustrated that their flights were coming up or near to departure, people getting turned away … with BA staff basically saying ‘if you’ve not checked in online, you’ve missed your flight’,” she told Sky News.

Flying with @British_Airways from @HeathrowAirport ? Don’t bother #britishairways http://pic.twitter.com/2czOBpaL43

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) May 27, 2017

Heathrow Airport right now. Thanks to #BritishAirways systems crashing. All flights delayed so make sure to give yourself plenty of time http://pic.twitter.com/s5qvyY5p7Y

— Philip Napiorkowski (@ukphillad) May 27, 2017

Terminal 5 in #Heathrow-huge lines from system outage http://pic.twitter.com/OaVDIq4uwU

— Lesley Mancuso (@lesallyn) May 27, 2017

The official Twitter account of Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in Europe, confirmed the IT failure abd said it was working with BA.

We’re working with @British_Airways following an issue with their IT system this morning that has caused some delays for passengers. 1/2

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) May 27, 2017

Following initial reports that the ground halt was the result of a computer hacks, British Airways refuted media claims that the outage had been caused by a cyber attack, saying that there was no evidence to support that.

The problems, which passengers said were had affected flights across Britain, came on a particularly busy weekend with a public holiday on Monday and many children starting their school half-term breaks.

BA became the latest airline to be hit by computer problems. Last month Lufthansa and Air France suffered a global system outage which prevented them from boarding passengers. Passengers trying to catch planes in Britain on Saturday reported long delays at check-in desks and flights being held on runways.

via http://ift.tt/2r93R39 Tyler Durden

In the end it was not mean to be. As discussed on Friday, during Trump’s first G-7 summit, world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Emmanuel Macron, had hoped to persuade the the US president to endorse the Paris Agreement climate pledge to fight global warming. By the end of the summit – held at a luxury hotel in Taormina, Sicily that was once a Dominican monastery and base for the Nazi air force during World War Two – they realized they had failed, as Trump “underscored his determination to break the global mold” by refusing to follow the Group of Seven line not only on global warming but also by resisting measures on trade.

Furthermore, in what was described as an “unprecedented step“, the final G-7 communique gave the U.S. its own section to say that it is “undergoing a review process” and is unable to join in the discussion, an official cited by Bloomberg said. As a result while the US will remain excluded from the final affirmation, the other six, call it the G-6, will recommit to the Paris Agreement on climate change, which Trump tweeted Saturday he’d come to a decision on next week.

I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017

Needless to say, Merkel who had hoped to leave the Saturday summit with the G-7 agenda endorsed by everyone, including Trump, was furious at the US president.

“The whole discussion about climate has been difficult, or rather very unsatisfactory”  German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Saturday. “Here we have the situation that six members, or even seven if you want to add the EU, stand against one. That means there are no signals until now whether the U.S. will remain in the Paris Agreement or not. We have therefore not talked around it but made clear that we the six member states and the EU remain committed to the goals of the agreement.”

The unhappy German continued: “The fact that we have not been able to make progress here is of course a situation in which you have to say that there is no common support for an important international agreement. This Paris Agreement is not simply any old agreement, but it’s rather a core agreement.”

She concluded by noting the unprecedented breach of agreement within the ranks, perhaps a first in G-7 history “There is right now no agreement. But we have made very clear that we are not moving away from our positions.”

Moments later, the final declaration released a just as stunning statement, which said that the U.S. was “not in a position to join consensus” on climate change.

BREAKING: Group of Seven final declaration says U.S. “not in a position to join consensus” on climate change.

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) May 27, 2017

To be sure, its wasn’t just Merkel who was displeased with Trump. According to Politico, while he avoided any major gaffes or serious diplomatic breaches, Trump’s lack of rapport with European leaders raises serious questions about his ability to effectively team up with critical U.S. allies.

“Like when there’s a new strange kid in the class nobody likes,” said a senior EU official who was briefed on the closed NATO meetings in Brussels. “You behave civilly when teachers (media) watch but don’t spend time with him in private because he’s so different.”

* * *

Trump’s inability to integrate with European leaders aside, there was at least some G-7 concensus on trade, after government officials were said to have found an agreement after haggling over wording on protectionism and reciprocal benefits, Bloomberg reported. Technical negotiations had stretched until 3 a.m. in Taormina to try to reconcile Trump’s ‘America First’ approach with the other leaders’ commitment to open markets. The result is a reference to combating protectionism to be included in the final text, according to two of the officials. Still, said the third, the document in its current draft clearly falls back by comparison to earlier G-7 communiques.

The leaders “found a reasonable solution” on trade that commits to a rules-based system, Merkel said. “We want to make the WTO successful,” she said.

Speaking to reporters on the G-7’s trade decision, Merkel said “we had very tough discussions about trade. Here I think we have found a reasonable solution. We commit ourselves to a rules- based trade system. We want to make the WTO successful. We will together keep our markets open and will move against protectionism, but will at the same time fight against unfair trade practices. This is also in the German interest when I think about the question of steel.”

According to Bloomberg, the discussions, described by Merkel as “very intense” late on Friday, “underscore the Trump administration’s decision to break with the established order honed over decades. Trump told his fellow leaders on Friday that he had campaigned on a platform of protecting U.S. jobs and would act accordingly, according to the officials, all of whom asked not to be named discussing the private meetings.”

But the best indication of the hit globalization took over the past 48 horus, was the actual content of the final G-7 communique, which was just six pages long compared to 32 pages last year. While much was dropped from the final draft, the text will contain a passage on migration, which it refers to as “human mobility.” It includes a sentence which says that nations also have the right to protect their security, while observing human rights.

via http://ift.tt/2s7jipD Tyler Durden

Four days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday the nation’s terror threat level was raised to the highest possible, “Critical” level in response to the Manchester suicide bombing which killed 22 people, and resulted in British troops being deployed on the streets of London for the first time in a decade, on Saturday Theresa May said Britain had lowered its security threat level to “severe” following a number of arrests and significant activity by police investigating the suicide bomb attack. As a result the British soldiers who were deployed earlier in the week to assist police, would be withdrawn from Britain’s streets from midnight on Monday.

Earlier in the day, police hunting the terrorist network behind the suspected suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, said they had made two further arrests overnight as they closed in on other possible cell members. May said this meant that the independent body which sets the threat level had decided it should be lowered from its highest rating “critical”, which means an attack could be imminent, to “severe”. As a result, the UK’s threat assessment has now been returned to the level it was at prior to the Manchester attack, with no imminent attacks expected, although as May also added an attack is still “highly likely”.

“A significant amount of police activity has taken place over the last 24 hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody,” May said. “The public should be clear about what this means. A threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. The country should remain vigilant.”

UK terror threat level reduced from CRITCAL to SEVERE. WATCH @Theresa_May statement HERE: http://pic.twitter.com/ZYqzv8wATD

— Darren McCaffrey (@DMcCaffreySKY) May 27, 2017

Elsewhere, Reuters reports, that UK police officers said they had used a controlled explosion to gain entry to an address in the north of the city where two men were detained on Saturday. Some hours later, police cordoned off a large area in the Moss Side area of south Manchester and houses were evacuated with a bomb disposal unit sent to the scene. A man working in a local shop, who declined to be named, told Reuters he saw three men being taken away from the address.

“As part of an ongoing search at a property in Moss Side an evacuation is currently being carried in the area,” police said in a statement.

 

On Friday, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer said police were confident that they had made “immense” progress and had apprehended a “large part of the network”. However, extra armed officers will be on duty across the country with security stepped up at some 1,300 events over the long holiday weekend.

The scope of the response to the Manchester attack has been dramatic, with the Times newspaper reporting on Saturday that intelligence officers had identified 23,000 jihahist extremists living in Britain. Earlier this week a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the security services were managing 500 active operations involving some 3,000 people who were thought to pose a threat.

An armed police officer at Manchester Piccadilly railway station

A concern for the UK, and perhaps explaining the reduction of the threat level, is that over the weekend there are a number of high-profile events including soccer cup finals in London and Glasgow, and the Great Manchester Run. However, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the UK police chief for counter-terrorism, advised people to be vigilant but to “go out as you planned and enjoy yourselves”.

Meanwhile, the traditional blowback to these kinds of events has emerged, with Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable saying there had been a rise in reported hate crimes, from an average of 28 to 56 incidents on Wednesday even as the police and politicians praised communities in Manchester for their reaction to the bombing.  “We can’t directly link these to the events of Monday night and are continuing to monitor the situation,” he said.

Also on Friday, political campaigning for the June 8 national election which was suspended after the Manchester attack resumed with the bombing becoming a central feature. The opposition Labour Party, emboldened by a rise in opinion polls, argued that Britain’s foreign policy had increased the risk of attacks and criticized Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May for cutting spending on policing. May said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was saying Britain was to blame for the bombing.

“I want to make one thing very clear to Jeremy Corbyn and to you, and it is that there can never, ever be an excuse for terrorism,” she said at the G-7 meeting in Sicily. A recent poll on Thursday put May’s Conservatives five points ahead of Labour suggesting a far tighter race than previously anticipated, sending the British pound tumbling..

via http://ift.tt/2s0ReFl Tyler Durden