The u.k. . Government after 2 elections ended in. A new law and. We'd love to hear from. Us. From n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer the House Judiciary Committee today approved 2 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump send them to the full House which would then set up a trial in the Senate Trump says he still wants to hear from the whistleblower but will go along with whatever Senate leaders want N.P.R.'s Frank or Donya says what they want is a short trial possibly with no witnesses President Trump says Democrats are trivializing impeachment he warns Republicans will remember how House Democrats treated him but Trump also has been looking forward to a Senate trial where Republicans in power would have more control and could call witnesses more favorable to the president Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other leaders however are against drawing out a process that they say is bound to come out in Trump's favor N.P.R.'s Franco or Donya as the Supreme Court is agreeing to hear President Trump's appeals in 3 separate cases involving requests for his financial records including his income tax returns Chapa sought to block subpoenas from Democratic led House committees and from a New York prosecutor arguing there is either no legislative purpose for the subpoenas or that subpoenas could encourage prosecutors to use presidential investigations to advance their careers Kentucky lawmakers are calling for an investigation to at least one of the more than 400 pardons issued by former Governor Matt Bevan Erica Peterson from member station w f p l reports to state lawmakers say they want Kentucky's new attorney general to appoint an independent special prosecutor to look into the pardon of Patrick Baker Baker was serving time for homicide and other crimes committed during a 2014 home invasion his brother and sister in law held a fundraiser for them Governor Bevan last year and also donated to his campaign Democratic state senator Morgan McGarvie says he believes this pardon deserves more investigation there is at best a shocking lapse of judgment and at worst you have political pay for play at the highest levels of government the part inside it evidence that that inside was quote sketchy at. Asked the sentencing judge described the evidence as overwhelming for n.p.r. News I'm Erica Peterson in lieu of all China and the u.s. Have reached agreement on the 1st phase of a trade deal N.P.R.'s Jim the rolly reports it will roll back tariffs on Chinese imports deal was announced back in October before the text of the arraignment was drawn up now the text is apparently completed though it hasn't been released and some details remain unclear in a tweet President trunk called the agreement a very large Phase one trade deal and said China had agreed to quote many structural changes and massive purchases of agricultural product energy and manufactured goods plus much more unquote Chinese officials confirmed the deal in a press conference in Beijing but also provided few details u.s. Officials said the agreement includes a phased rollback of some of the tariffs the u.s. Has placed on Chinese imports Jim n.p.r. News this is n.p.r. . In the Democratic Republic of Congo there's been an uptick in new Ebola infections N.P.R.'s narrate Eisenman reports over the last month health workers had managed to reduce the number of new Ebola cases in this 16 month long outbreak to a trickle then this past week alone 27 new cases popped up the World Health Organization says that's because its staff has recently been cut off from many communities where the virus is spreading there's a long running conflict in that area between Congo's government and multiple armed groups and late last month militants launched attacks against health workers offices and living quarters now that ferrying many of his health workers in and out each day via helicopter but that's abstention reduces the time they can spend identifying new Ebola cases and r.c. And vaccinating people who've come into contact with them. N.p.r. News despite a week of bruising strikes French president Manuel McCrone says his country will push ahead with major pension reform McCrone telling reporters in Brussels today the overhaul of the. Engine system is a historic reform for our country the changes include raising the retirement age to $64.00 and also ending special privileges for some workers it's perhaps not a problem in all parts of the country but Christmas tree rowers say in some areas supplies are tight as the industry continues to bounce back from the 2000 and with artificial trees also now in many households the Denver based National Christmas Tree Association says it is a challenging time for growers stocks on Wall Street closed higher to end the week the Dow was up 3 points 228135 the Nasdaq rose 17 points today I'm Jack Speer n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from Fidelity Investments taking a personalized approach to helping clients grow preserve and manage their wealth learn more at fidelity dot com slash wealth fidelity brokerage services l.l.c. And Americans for the Arts at Americans for the Arts dot org. Just because you're on the road or a little outside the j.p. Our broadcast area doesn't mean you have to give up listening to Jefferson Public Radio you can always stream it from any browser at i.j.a. P.r.s. Org but you can also download the free j.p. App with all 3 j.p. Our services are available to stream on your phone or compatible device that means you can listen to j p r anywhere and anytime download the j p r m from the App Store or Google Play and never again be out of touch with the quality music and information you've come to expect from j p r. This is one a happy Friday I'm Joshua Johnson in Washington Saudi ambassador to the u.s. Travels to Pensacola to personally extend condolences for last week's tragedy at the naval air base there at the same time the president comes under renewed pressure about his close relationship with the Saudi royal family a new report about the Arctic raises more concerns about how far and how fast the climate is changing and Boris Johnson has been to see the queen his election gamble paid off crushing the opposition with his promise to get brags it done plenty to talk about today on the Friday news roundup joining us around the table and not you Bill basi Washington bureau chief for the welcome back to the round up thank you for having Dmitri civil stuff below Washington bureau chief for The Financial Times Hi Dimitri thank you and Robert Moore a Washington correspondent for i.t.v. News and network based in the u.k. Robert welcome to the roundup great to be with you we begin in the u.k. With a massive election win for bars Johnson the prime minister he has led the Conservative Party to victory and his big majority means that parliament cannot stop the country leaving the European Union at the end of next month so breaks it will get done Robert let me start with you there is a lot to pay attention to here but what do you think is the top line headline from yesterday's election well that undoubtedly the top line is it's a political and personal triumph. For Boris Johnson you know he's taken a party that's been in government some time and reinvented it and that's the great sort of bar it's magic he can reinvent a party he can ensure that he's in Number 10 now for 5 straight years but beneath that personal triumph is a system that is potentially creaking at the seams because it's also a victory for nationalists nationalists in Scotland nationalists in Northern Ireland and indeed nationalists in England as well said look the system is going to be under pressure for the next 5 years but none of that disguises really the triumph that Boris will feel today I do want to get to Scotland in a minute but Robert it can't be overstated that this is a very different Boris Johnson than people knew like 1015 years ago if you had gone in a time machine 15 years ago and said that guy the guy who writes those word articles that he sometimes makes up in the newspaper he's going to be your prime minister People would a laugh to you back into the time machine to the to the year from whence you came I'm not sure that's true Josh I was a college with Boris Johnson I was in Brussels with him as a reporter when he was working for The Daily Telegraph as a reporter stroke polemicist and in many ways you know this was the trajectory he always saw he is a man above all else since he was a student who loves to be loved he can kind of take somebody else clothing and reinvent himself you know this is why he's talking about being a One Nation conservative to liberal center ground in Britain today but at the same time he stole the clothes of the BRICs a party I'm on the support of you know those on the right of the Conservative Party so you know this is as I say the magic he can even manage to capture a broad swathe of of British votes right into the kind of labor heartlands of the Northeastern of the West Midlands and yet somehow you know he manages to pass this off and it is a remarkable political feat and I think whatever you think of him you have to pay tribute to that ability to kind of reinvent himself he kind of spoke to that a bit in his victory speech you know before he met with the queen the small. Inning thank those who had voted for him and his party he spoke last night spoke again today to knowledge that plenty people might have their doubts about backing his conservative party here's a bit more of what Boris Johnson said your hands may have quivered over the ballot paper before you put your cross in the conservative box. And you may intend to return to labor next time around and if that is the case I am humbled that you put your trust in me and that you put your trust in us and we will never take your support could your exit. Be true how much do we think that this is Boris Johnson winning rather than the Labor Party losing Cherami Corben who is the front man for the Labor Party this time around has it seems as if this was a very resoundingly rejection of him almost as much as it was a victory for the conservatives Well I think it was definitely both him and his Robert side bars Johnson is a guy loves to be loved had a very simple message get Breck's it done sounds a little bit like make America great again and has reinvented his party some similarities with someone else on the side of the water you might say. But on the other hand Jeremy Corbyn ran a very bad campaign it wasn't clear really what his ultimate stand some breaks it was he wasn't able to explain on a British television show couple weeks ago why he hadn't tried to stop some of his I'm in the Labor Party and I think he was seen his way to left didn't have a concise message he could sell and wasn't seen as a particularly appealing character so you know bars around a very good campaign and Jeremy Corbyn run a very bad campaign I think that's what brought the result last night should this have been a lay up for labor I mean if they had not been running Jeremy Corbyn might they have stood a stronger chance or was this really Barse Johnson's election to lose Well I think what Boris Johnson did was he cleverly with again a simple message that's kept Bracks it done remember the u.k. Has been in a kind of a paralysis now for several years over Bracks it I mean it's day in day out that's all people talk about Johnson said to the people who want to leave I'm going to get it done the people who wanted to stay but were sick of talking about Bracks that some of them want to Johnson said you know something if it's going to happen let's do it quickly so I think he built a kind of a coalition and us Johnson set himself. Some of you may go back to Labor next time around but you've come to mean let's get back to Don And let's move on I think that ended up being a very powerful message not even a larger stand stance this is also a European story I mean I don't know that the e.u. Is going to be pleased Johnson's victory because it makes it look like Briggs it is pretty much a certainty there also was a break that party that ran this time around didn't do far didn't do much in the parliamentary election they won some seats in the European Parliament so this sends a message to the e.u. Leadership as well is going to have to finish these negotiations Absolutely and they already made a statement saying that they want to come that is also the election and they're willing to negotiate with Britain but not that any cost saying that the president already congratulated Mr Johnson and he said that looking forward to do this as he called massive trade deals with Britain so I think they're not the States is looking forward to deal you know that really with Britain while Europe has to deal with the consequences of that and I think just to add to what my colleague just mentioned I thing is not just that Johnson ran on this a very simple message and I think part of his winning is because if he ran on this . You know brings that message but also because people in Britain has voted for that and they wanted to be done with it and therefore I think traditionally the Labor voters decided that they have to respect the 1st message in the 1st place which is we voted to exit on this do it now and this dogfight in Parliament if you will so I think he has a clear mandate for 5 years and he can run on a strong. And then we will see if actually he will manage to get Britain out by the 3rd defense of January 1 of our listeners asked how long till Scotland votes for independence and troubles begin again in Ireland how much of an influence an untruthful Facebook ads play in the Tory victory a few questions there let's pull that apart starting with Scotland Scott. National Party which is pro e.u. And pro independence also did pretty well in yesterday's election Scotland's 1st Minister and the head of the s.n.p. Nicolas sturgeon says that next week she'll start a process that would allow Scots to vote on whether to leave the u.k. Next year here's part of what she said this is not about asking about his joints and or any other Westminster politician for permission it is in state an assertion of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to determine I do in future that's Nicholas Sturgeon who is the leader of the Scottish National Party and Scotland's 1st Minister Robert this sets us where exactly this issues come up before Scheuer sets us on a collision course because Boris Johnson has made it crystal clear as this kind of leader of the conservative and Unionist Party that under no circumstances will he allow that to be a 2nd referendum on Scottish independence he is crystal clear on that as you heard Nicholas judge and he's also making clear that she regards the events of the last 24 hours an absolute mandate for her to pursue her dream of Scottish independence so it is going to be one of the fundamental fractures at the very heart of the sort of great u.k. Experiment can the 4 nations hold together when they're pulling in a radically different direction and of course the key point about Scotland is it's overwhelmingly a remain nation in a way it wants to remain within the European Union so as as she has pointed out on multiple occasions they are leaving the European Union you know under great protest to then money the waters there win the election a bit in terms of the issues that matter to voters Catherine emailed if the s.n.p. The Scottish National Party had not pushed for their interests would Boris Johnson have been defeated I don't think he would be defeated because he was he was clearly his message was resonating in kind of English working class districts across the north of England and across other areas although most West Midlands that's where his majority was won so I think in the end Scotland was in the. Pivotal route for him to get into Number 10 again but it does show that actually you know even in his moment of triumph there are significant challenges and of course you know as we go within weeks of bricks that you know the country is going to face a significant trading and economic dislocation so there are going to be huge challenges ahead even as Boris Johnson revels in this personal triumph some dislocations that I think people have known have been coming kind of driving them and driving them and driving them and now they're here exactly and of course Which constituencies which parts of Britain will suffer the most the very constituencies a photo of Boris Johnson That's the kind of inherent tension in this victory while Jeremy Corbyn made it clear he's not going to be Labour's leader for much longer but he was proud of his message of this campaign here's part of what he said last night we did not descend into the gutter we did not undertake personal abuse we undertook the task of getting a message of hope and justice to every part of this country I want to talk about the future for Jeremy Corbyn and for the u.k. When we continue with Dmitri 7 stop all of the Financial Times Robert Moore of i.t.v. News and not you Bill basically of a lot of Bia earlier this week you may have heard we did a program we touched on the topic of Christmas music you might have heard about supposed McCartney He let slip that he recorded a secret Christmas album just for his family Sir Paul told the b.b.c. That he has no plans to release this album it's just for his kids and his grandkids Fortunately he left us a few other songs that are pretty good too I'm Joshua Johnson You're listening to one egg from w.a.m. You and n.p.r. . Business. Radio service online. Org provides a one stop gathering place for news arts culture and entertainment visit. For photos articles and links covering regional national and international news. Services get updated. Contribute to community forums or just check out the weather in your area it's Jefferson Public Radio's website at www. Dot. Org. We'll talk American life expectancy to start. Research as more people dying in their prime of life also in our business segment the ground floor returned to the story about whole house fans and. Things can help us better appreciate the. 10 pm on the news and information public radio. The world's news room brings you the big picture stories. Like words. Such as. Experience is white words such as. Join us and hear the world. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the ring foundation in support of N.P.R.'s continued mission to create a more informed public one challenge to an invigorated by a deeper understanding of events ideas and cultures from the candy to fund supporting individual dignity and sustainable communities through investments and transformative leaders and ideas learn more at. De da Fund dot org And from listeners like you who donate to this n.p.r. Station. This is one a I'm Joshua Johnson it's the Friday news roundup with Dmitri 7 stop below Washington bureau chief for The Financial Times Robert Moore Washington correspondent for i.t.v. News and not be a bill basi Washington bureau chief for. Dimitri we heard that clip from Jeremy Corbyn the leader of the Labor party soon to be former leader of the Labor Party saying that he was proud of the campaign they did not descend into the gutter I think that ever since really since David Cameron became the prime minister the conservative prime minister and then to reason May and then Boris Johnson people have been wondering about the future of the Labor Party is that future clear are no or fuzzier now after yesterday's election Well it's both it's clear in the sense that Jeremy Corbyn has said he's not going to lead Labor into the next election and I think everyone expects that fairly soon he will step down as the leader the big question is who replaces him and does Labor stay as a very hard left party that the party that Jeremy Corbyn has kind of brought even further to the left or does someone come in and do a Tony Blair and try to bring the party back towards the center in the same way that Bill Clinton did here with the Democrats before his election I think one of the interesting questions that arises from that is whether there are lessons to be learnt from the catastrophic failure of Jeremy Colgan for the Democrats head you know do they decide that they have to fight on the center ground of American politics is bad news bunny Sondos Elizabeth Warren good news for Bloomberg but a judge and biting I mean is you know do all countries in that politics live in silos or is there are there are lessons that can migrate across the Atlantic from Jeremy Colvin's epic failure I think it's kind of been the question in a lot of ways in the last few years particularly since President Trump was elected with I mean every election in Europe that we've talked about I think whether it was the French election the German election you know any. That were wondering if Donald Trump represents a force that affects other nations or whether there is this large tectonic shift. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson enjoyable so Naro and other elite Nigel for Raj Mark kind of emblematic of which which one is the tail and which ones the dog and yeah and it's a question for the left or right around the world do they win through ideological purity or from so radical progress as human being in the center ground and it's one of the unanswered questions of our era one less thing Robert before we move on Boris Johnson we look at breaks it on a top line level here there are some other more national issues that he faced a lot of questions on including the National Health Service the ukase kind of government run health service that was one of the big election issues and he's promised that he is not going to strip it he's not going to privatized it he said he wants to build it up that's right the National Health Service the n.h.s. Is reason why they regarded by sort of a national consensus to be the absolute crown jewels of British life and so every party has been promising to invest in it and that's why you know even as he embraced a kind of a nationalist bricks and agenda he also tried to win the center ground and Labor voters by also talking about investing in the n.h.s. So in that sense he's a centrist in his breakfast policy he's going to the right that's why I say you know he's a he's a man who's all things to all people will see if he can deliver and if the downside of breaks it is economic issues that make investment ever more difficult I want to say before we move on Robert I want you know we did not just have you on the program because we have to talk Bragg's I think sometimes the listener can feel like if we ever have anyone with a British accent or you know breaks it's going to come up it's nice I swear we're just very this and Irish and right I said I only respect you for your kind and more than just brag that's kind of course not the least of which reason being that the you can't election is not the only election the kind of fascinated us and this week or the last few weeks not at all we should talk about Israel because they're headed for their 3rd national election in less than a year the deadline for forming the government passed on Wednesday. It offers a possible lifeline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu especially because he was indicted on charges of bribery fraud and breach of trust weeks after the last time he fell to cobble together a government in October not a bilby see what's going on why is it so hard for Israel to form a working parliament and get to work because of the system the system is built on what they call proportional representation so therefore the smaller party has a hold on power so the can is it is a compromise of $120.00 seats so any bloc has to win 60 plus one and neither of the big parties which is a liquid led by Netanyahu or that is a new form party they'd by a former general been in gangs it's called blue and white they couldn't win although he won by one seat actually but they cannot form the government and the one who holds the there they can't win if he if you want to call him is the former defense minister Lieberman and Lieberman hates Netanyahu so he's not going to give him the seats that would allow him to form the government here wants him out and that's the dilemma now and they're also they have not to reach what he called a unity government and national unity government because Gans has put the condition that he wants to serve as a prime minister for us so therefore when they reach added Look basically the president of Israel has to call for a 3rd election now calling for this that election on March 2nd it doesn't mean they get to sort of the problem because we might go again to the square one and nobody would have a majority but the only thing that's different this time is basically Netanyahu has a serious allegation of indicted and indictment and as you said for fraud and everything else so the voters and I might think twice about him but most importantly he is facing a challenge from the Likud leadership and this is for the 1st time his might be serious so the liquid will hold election on this. 26 and a good deal on a shot it is already said that he challenged Netanyahu So now the question for liquid whether this signifies Netanyahu who kept them in power for decades so they can win next election or they would throw him under the bus so I just want to make sure we're clear not about where we stand the blue and white party Benny Gantz this party won a plurality of the vote they got 33 seats the liquid party and that's I mean I was party got $32.00 so blue and white won a plurality but they need a majority to govern and putting that majority together with the parties who want to see here a seat there that's what caused this to fall apart saluted the smaller parties and most of them other extremely religious parties which gabs does not want to go in coalition with or. Which is not the now it doesn't want to go it and what was interesting in the last election as well is the Arab parties which traditionally they side with the left they actually they were willing to go with get spotty but it was not enough for him to form the government so does this make notes on you know not possible comeback kid where he would have to you know if he survives this thing that kind of cements him despite all these and. He's fighting for his political life I find it very hard that succeed in this election and if he's not indicted by then but by the way now because according to Israeli law he is the current caretaker prime minister but he loses everything else like Minister of Foreign Affairs or. He cannot keep any other ministerial positions but he has to face trial and basically he's been wanted to stay in government for one reason not just because of his political animal has been dominating Israeli politics for so long but because you want to protect himself from going to jail and what does this mean in a larger sense not you know I mean while Israel is dealing with this life still goes on in Israel and in the Middle East absolutely but also don't forget that if and in the room which is come back to the us again to. Talk about the peace deal this remembered that this administration wanted to present what they called the deal of the century led by the president as he had advisor giant caution or he already presented they could make side of the plan and we waited for the political side of it and they said this is of course conditioned on Israel and the government of course Israel had election and they couldn't for my government and now we go on into our own election soon and therefore we don't know what the what holds food this peace deal is it going to go forward is going to be dead on arrival we have no idea so we've talked about the troubles in the u.k. The challenges in the u.k. We've talked about the challenges in Israel Let's zoom way out and look at the troubles of the world or more accurately of the earth with the latest report on the climate the $29000.00 Arctic report card was released this week it's federal assessment of climate patterns in the Arctic and according to this report things do not look good temperatures in that region which includes parts of Alaska and Iceland where the warmest they have ever been now we understand there been a lot of these climate change reports Sabrina wrote on our Facebook page about climate change and rain is wet I'm done with awareness nonsense stuff needs to start happening to me is there anything that we learn from the report that might provoke stuff to start happening or is this just more awareness of the problem we already know I think it's just more awareness I mean it's more ammunition to people who believe the scientists which say climate change is real there's only a limited amount of time to deal with it the problem is that there's a disconnect between around the world voters and political action and while some big things have happened like the power of climate change a few years ago. There's still a lot of inaction in this week in Spain you have the Climate Change Conference cop 25 and even there the last remaining part of the power still which is a kind of a carbon trading scheme. Has been very divisive and countries haven't been able to reach agreement so this is something you know on the campaign trail in America I spend a lot of time out in Iowa and places on the trail voters are talking about climate change a lot more than they were 4 years ago and yet that doesn't seem to be translating into political action certainly not in the u.s. Anyway yeah Antonio Guterres who is the u.n. Secretary general gave a rather ominous opening statement here is part of it by the end of the coming decades we will be on one of 2 paths. When is the path of surrender where we have sleep walked past the point of no return Joe provides in the health and safety of everyone on this planet. Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that birdie beats having the sand that feed them while the planet burns that's on 21st the secretary general of the un Robert do we expect anything meaningful to come out of cop $25.00 Well I think it's the question of the moment is whether this kind of awakening of a younger generation is going to have an impact on policy and it does tie in to our previous conversation about political paralysis in you know in Israel and elsewhere because we have a scientific reality colliding with the political uncertainties we live in and so the question is Are policymakers able to have they got the the mandate to enact you know a significant change that might involve a lot of economic hardship So these are fundamental questions and it you know it raises every time we see credit we we asked the question you know. The impressive movement that she has energized for a 16 year old Scandinavian girl but will it actually lead to fundamental change I mean in Davos you know earlier this year she went and told people I want you to panic I want you to feel fair she is trying to galvanize this young generation I think it's one of the you know what unanswered questions whether that'll actually impact policymakers to really have a have a fundamental rethinking of the of their own economies and Joshua Johnson You're listening to one essay. Nati Oh the only one who was not panicking is President Trump who actually said in the tweet that she needs to chill and she has to control her temper as a teenager so I mean the problem with this is in this we deal with the climate change as a national security issue and led by countries like the United States it's really hard to see how you can get an action on the international level the president still call it a hoax maybe there is some change as you said I offer our most might be seeing the effect of that but it would even with this Madrid summit the other an activist walked out of it the United States trying to avoid even paying any competition for 3rd world countries and developing countries to pay for the effect of the gas and the carbon So basically I don't know we if we going to see anything happening on a very high level if they're not just is not involved in it you know the president kind of trolled Gretta to Bergen but she needs to kind of chill out and go to a movie and then has an anger management problem and she changed her Twitter description to say that she is a teenager working on her anger management problem currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend so she kind of trolldom right back to me tree just on the u.s. Political front one of the interesting things is one of the loudest messages about the danger of climate change that comes out in America is actually from the Pentagon you know Donald Trump is always talking about how important military is I remember traveling down to Norfolk Naval Base which is one of the biggest naval bases in the world in a couple of hours from where we're sitting with John Kerry to talk about how in just eastern coastal region of the u.s. We've got all these military installations climate change sea levels rising are a threat to the u.s. If you look at the National Security reports that come out not from the White House but from the Pentagon climate change is always front and center and yet that doesn't seem to have translated across to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue where President Trump is so if the. U.s. Isn't showing leadership we should get to Craig's comment from our Facebook page Craig writes Someone should talk to China and India so it's not the us who is showing leadership on this issue certainly China and India will be a big role in what's happening in the climate say the biggest but otoh is as well right but I think shilling who showing the leadership here in terms of saying something's got to get done Dimitri Well I mean there was kind of a leadership when everyone came together for the Paris climate deal there was a lot of leadership from a lot of places and there was a compromise the difficulty here is that developed nations have developed by polluting the planet and we're not comfortable where developed we have our houses we have our cars and we're happy and we're saying but now the environment is a problem China and India and Brazil and other countries that are still developing say hold on a 2nd you got rich by polluting the planet and now you're telling us Don't Get Rich stop polluting the planet so there's a kind of a divide between developing and developed countries that are very hard to bridge and unless you have leadership at the u.s. Level at the European level it's going to be hard to close that gap and if you have the still you know many people say the leader of the free world in the White House saying climate change is a hoax Well then how can you lead the world's to a compromise it's pretty much impossible to put a finer point on gratitude and Berg we should note that the 16 year old Swedish environmental activist was named Time magazine's Person of the year she's the youngest person to be granted that title now she's rejected accolades in the past and put emphasis on climate solutions instead so what's the next step after a cop 25 were do we go from here or do we even know what I want I mean you know you ask the question you know who will step forward and we look to nation states but actually maybe we shouldn't be looking to that template any moment be it's a generational movement you know we look at the young people engaged in climate change activism we look at those in America against gun violence we look against of young people in Hong Kong making that point against Chinese rule and so we realize that maybe it's not a sort of into the. The nation state that will respond maybe it's excellent. Cross continental young generation that will come to our rescue mission this is also one area where industry is starting to believe where government is failing I'm just again crossing America for your political or other stories it's amazing to see how many wind farms windmills solar panels have been built in this country from Iowa down to Texas these are 2 huge growth industries that create jobs and so you have a movement in the private sector to say well actually let's lead by investing in these areas and if we do this successfully we will solve the problem another way 90 activism I thing to robots porn it galvanize people into action and it definitely bring the issue to a different and center but I think you still to be able to tackle the serious issues and to find solutions you need to be if need to be done on the level of intergovernmental cooperation much more to discuss and we continue the Friday news roundup We will talk trade got some stories about the World Trade Organization and about the u.s. China trade talks also this week the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that its annual survey found 250 journalists around the world are in jail for their work can you guess which countries jailed the most journalists will give the answer just ahead stay close. Jefferson Public Radio provides an easy way for nonprofit organizations to get the word out about their community events simply visit our website at www dot org and click on community calendar once there you'll find some simple instructions on how to post information about your nonprofit groups events so that it's available to both the web visitors and j p r announcers You can also use the site to search for other events happening in the region it's the j.p. Our community calendar. Org. We donated a 993 to 5. Jefferson Public Radio who's my wife for. 'd probably one of the only stations around the place from classical music and dance to good conversation and the only station to buy a new commission pay attention to their radio station g p r. The next fresh air comic actor and writer Wanda Sykes talks about doing comedy during the Obama era and the Trump era has a lot of political material as well as comedy about being an African-American married to a white woman for comedy special not normal is streaming on Netflix join us Wanda Sykes on fresh air today at 3 and 7 here in the news and information service of our . Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the Walton Family Foundation working to solve social and environmental problems to improve lives today and benefit future generations more information at Walton Family Foundation dot org from the lang loft foundation supporting justice equity and opportunity for all people to foster and sustain safe and healthy communities learn more at Lang loft dot org And from the John d. And Catherine team MacArthur Foundation at mac found dot org. Back now to the round up with knotty a bill bases Dmitri 7 stop below and Robert Moore This week the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that its annual survey found 250 journalists are in jail for their work globally the nations that jailed the most journalists are China Turkey Saudi Arabia Egypt Eritrea Vietnam and Iran speaking of Eritrea on Tuesday Ethiopia's prime minister Abi off meds except the 29 t. Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo this week the prizes for his efforts ending the ongoing war between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea The committee also criticised Prime Minister Ahmed for skipping the traditional news conference following the visit critics accused him of avoiding questions about recent unrest in Ethiopia Let's move on and talk trade specifically the World Trade Organization and the concerns that some have that it might be time to say r I p. To the w t o now the us has never been a big fan of the w t o but for the past 2 years the u.s. Has ramped up its attack kind of playing by its own rules by imposing unilateral tariffs and this week Demitri President Trump effectively shut it down what's going on with the. So what the u.s. Did to the u.s. The w t o has something called the The appellate body which decides whether or when a case is brought Whether country a has breached w t o laws against country b. Or country c. The appellate body decides if something has been done in Korea wrongly or legally and then decides whether you can put retaliatory sanctions or tire of so I should say on the country that has broken the laws what present Trump has done has refused to is used a veto power to prevent the w t o from appointing new judges on that panel to replace judges who retired this week you need to have 3 judges on the panel for to have a quorum to be effective. Now effectively how one so countries can still bring cases to the appellate body but there aren't judges to hear the cases So this essentially means that for the time being it's a limbo situation nothing's going to happen. There's a couple things going on here Robert Wyden hisor who is the u.s. Trade representative a long time trade negotiator in the private sector has had distain for the w.t. Over many many years thinks it needs to be reformed on a minimum President Trump has more of a unilateralist approach the world kind of America 1st he's pulled out of many multinational. Deals that the t.p. Trade deal the Paris climate accord except for the Iran nuclear deal so this is the u.s. Saying we don't want to be bound by multilateral institutions we don't want rules opposed on us whether it's the International Criminal Court or the w t o And so therefore we're going to make it ineffective and then do what President Trump prefers to do which is to do bilateral deals with people when there's a problem to try and solve it by laterally so why is President Trump Dmitri the one in charge of these appointments I mean he could just appoint other people that he thinks would have a more advantageous for you to the u.s. Kidney. The way the appointments are done it's not that he's you can't just but it's not like the Supreme Court where you pick someone who you like and then hope that they get approved there's a process you have to go through and so there are kind of checks and balances but what he's done here is meant that he's prevented the court from having a quorum so essentially it's the same thing and he doesn't want to have cases brought to the w.c.l. He thinks it's in the u.s. Interest to avoid the w t o and to work directly with other countries so I think this is the best solution if if that's what your goal is Robert how might this affect other nations who are signatories to the w t o like the u.k. Specifically what I think considerably I mean this is a kind of part of a pattern it's not an isolated move by this White House is an assault on global institutions and just take a look which country is about to enter a year. It is of torturous trade negotiations outside of the European Union might well need a global trade institutions to be functioning really well well you guessed it Britain so you know even as the Boris Johnson Donald Trump relationship appears to be in fine fettle nevertheless just affectively and just in this decision alone Donald Trump may have seriously handicap Britain's economic opportunities in negotiating global trade arrangements and not just to be clear Robert you the e.u. That's one of its primary functions of the deal is to be a trade zone so does this mean that the u.k. Is relying on the w t o more now or will because it's pulling out of the you where those disputes would have been resolved with the e.u. Or like explain that difference what I century as we come out of the European Union on the new date is January the 31st you know we are going to be free to try and strike numerous trade deals around the world not least with the United States one by one by one by exactly but that is a titanic Tascam one of the fundamental criticisms of how Boris Johnson glibly talks about get back to Don is there's no possibility of getting breaks down anytime soon but what we are going to need is a robust series of kind of global institutions to help us navigate this brave new world if we can't going to try and do it and by sort of handicapping the w t o that's only going to add to the problems of the already immense problems being faced by British trade negotiators the other big trade deal that the world is looking for is the deal between the u.s. And China and President Trump says a deal is once again very nearly within reach this morning this morning Eastern time anyway Chinese officials held a news conference to say that they have agreed with the u.s. On a Phase one trade deal America will cancel tariffs on Chinese goods in phases starting this Sunday this weekend when the terrace was set to take effect the president tweeted in response in part quote. They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of agricultural products energy and manufactured goods plus much more he went on to write quote We will begin negotiations on the Phase 2 deal immediately rather than waiting until after the 2020 election this is an amazing deal for all unquote So what does this actually mean the u.s. And China have had this conversation Dimitri on again off again on again off again for a while we've heard this tape before we have seen this movie many times and we've had previous agreements in principle the last one was actually October we had a kind of a nascent one in June at the g. 20 in Osaka only for them to fall apart not what's a little bit different this time is the Chinese have actually held a press conference they as we were speaking earlier they were doing that in Beijing where they've said that there is a tentative deal but the some major things worth paying attention a there's no text which means there hasn't been any legal scrutiny of whatever has been agreed upon. And it's not clear what the deal actually does so it's it's true that it will remove tire of some phases. The Chinese will commit to buying a lot of agricultural produce but in some ways critics would say that's China going back to doing what they were doing before the trade war started they were buying a lot of soybeans and then they stopped. This so the real question is Is there anything significant in here that Donald Trump has actually gotten that is going to help the u.s. Or has he just got a cease fire in the trade war as we as we approach Christmas can claim to people that he's got this great phase one deal and now we're going to go to phase 2 which by the way even if they do complete phase one phase 2 is where all the difficult stuff is going to be and if it's taken you know more than a year to get Phase one the very simple deal on the surface of it Phase 2 is going to be incredibly difficult in a year that the u.s. Has a presidential election with regards to the World Trade Organization Eddie emailed Yes get out of the w t o kill it it's why. Of the few things I think that Trump has done right winning a w t o court case 10 years after your job has gone to China didn't put a dime in my pocket my job was never coming back Dimitri Well I think one of the criticisms that everyone has of the w t o and this is not just the us is that the decisions on the process takes a huge amount of time and that if you're going to have these kind of institutions they need to be more or less bureaucratic more effective and come to decisions more quickly so I think actually to be very few people who would argue against that now another big trade deal that cross this week has to do with Saudi Aramco the massive Saudi Arabian state oil producer and for the 1st time ever the world has a 2 trillion dollar company 2 trillion that's the valuation of Saudi Aramco on Wednesday 2 trillion was a long time goal of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin psalm on 90 of the company started trading public stock this week and it feels like a huge milestone for the crown prince because he's been pushing really hard to convince the world that Saudi Arabia is not wholesale changing but is opening up for business and wants to be a world player just like everybody else absolutely there was a great success personal success actually for Crown Prince and how much. Because he's been trying for the last few months actually to try to trade the stock exchanges like in London and in New York all the negotiation would was Street banks failed so he decided to turn it to family and friends as they say so he basically looked around at the Saudi royal family and some big investors in the Middle East and he decided to launch it very successfully to the surprise of many. And basically now which used to be a state owned company is the largest most valuable company in the history probably is ahead of Apple is ahead of us. A bit ahead of Amazon the head of 5 top oil companies combined so for him it's a it's a big success but also partly it's also his Politico because he wanted to use part of this fund I think $25000000000.00 to. To to fund his vision was his quote 2030 when he came to power he wanted to modernize Saudi Arabia to bring it to the 21st century he said often that we are one of the largest exporter of arms in the word yet we don't even have basic factories to do maintenance and we cannot depend on oil and so we have to dive and we have to bring foreign investors so for the time being I think it's being seen as a success but we have to wait and see in the next year as if of course for many consider she included a climate change and issues that are related to fuel and also what economy if it will stay as it is now and to your point not you you're absolutely correct in terms of the value of Saudi Aramco compared to Apple and Amazon I just did a quick search at the moment Amazon's market capitalization the value of all of its stock based on its current stock value is about $875000000000.00 Apple's market cap is $1.00 trillion dollars So Saudi Aramco well ahead at 2 trillion dollars I'm Joshua Johnson You're listening to one egg. Dimitri I was going to say it's true that on one level it's a success but there are couple of points I think worth making They only floated 1.5 percent of their shares so that the 2 trillion valuation is based on if you listed all of the shares at the current share price it will be worth $2.00 trillion the market value of the company is actually much less than AAPL right now the 2nd thing is it's not really a real price because Mohamed bin Solomon has encouraged his family and friends to come in and invest and not to sell in a way that it artificially keeps the price higher so I mean most Western investment banks do not. Act that it would keep it 2 trillion valuation if it was freely floated and people were buying and selling for market reasons as opposed to family reasons Robert it's also worth noting that in the background while all of this was that attack of the Pensacola Naval Air Station where a lieutenant of the Saudi Air Force opened fire in a classroom killed 3 people injured 8 people this week the Saudi ambassador to the u.s. Visited the base the president conveyed apologies from the kingdom and the fallout from that still continues so this further complicates the relationship between the u.s. Saudi Arabia how does this factor in all of this is certainly further complicates it certainly gives people pause for thought about whether Riyadh is friend or foe but I think you know going on in the background is this remarkable the successful attempt by Mohamed bin Solomon to rehabilitate himself you know only you know months off to the death of Jamal Khashoggi and guess where the world is holding that 20 summit in less than a year's time you guessed it Joshua Riyadh another story we want to hit before we run out of time comes from India's parliament it passed a bill on Wednesday that would grant a path to citizenship to minorities fleeing persecution from 3 bordering countries except for Muslims the citizenship amendment bill is sparked angry protests in the Northeastern and 3 poorest states in India thousands of troops were deployed in response India's prime minister Narendra Modi claims the bill will protect vulnerable groups critics say it will marginalize the Muslim population while attracting attracting unwanted immigration from Bangladesh Pakistan and Afghanistan Noddy and the ranger Modi has been under a lot of pressure for his treatment of Muslims especially in the caution here region this kind of fuels this but I'm not sure where it goes from here this seems like it just ratchets things up and up and up and up and up Absolutely and this is remember that India has the 2nd largest Muslim concentrations in the world of to Indonesia so but this tension has been historically you know known but when. Mr Modi came to power and his party which is the party that came on the back of Hindu nationalist they always have this edge and trying to go to sites what is controversial for example there is a site where Muslims have the mosque and the Hindus want to build a temple recently also they wanted to amend divorce laws that doesn't apply particularly to Muslims especially in John one Kashmir this has come again as he said he basically said this is a path to citizenship. Will be living in India for so long they deserve to be Indian citizens but as long as they are not Muslims then they are Ok we can accept them and this has caused many people to criticize him and saying that this is or will lead to more tension between the Hindu and Muslim community is not going to help he say that you know these countries have Muslim majority is like in Pakistan and Afghanistan and in Bangladesh and therefore we want to protect the minorities know this bill has passed through the lower parliament and now is going to be signed by the president himself we will see but again he has been appealing to the subtheme and of Hindu nationalists Dmitri very briefly it's worth pointing out when Modi was chief minister of the Us bombed him from coming to the us for 10 years didn't give him a visa on the basis that he had not stopped the deadly. Killings of Muslims and in 2002 I was the 1st time that law had been used against a foreign to control one last story that might form your heart despite all the troubles of the world can you imagine what's happening in this clip. That was the moment when the man who bought a live in Newton John's iconic leather jacket from the movie. Jacket sold at auction for almost a quarter $1000000.00 The proceeds will go to new John's care. It's a center but the buyer said the jacket quote should not sit in the billionaire's closet for Country Club bragging rights Godspeed for a quick recovery unquote after buying a live in Newton John's jacket she gave it back to her she's 71 years old back in 2017 she was diagnosed with breast cancer on that uplifting note despite everything else we've been discussing for the last 33 minutes we say thanks to not a lot of thanks for spending the hour with us thank you for having me stuff below the Financial Times thanks Dimitri Thanks Joshua and Robert Moore of i.t.v. News thanks Robert it's been a pleasure our podcast is produced by Miranda for more our senior producer Danielle Knight and Paige Byrne this program comes to you from w.a.m. You part of American University in Washington distributed by n.p.r. Until we meet again I'm Joshua Johnson thank you so much for listening and enjoy your weekend this is one. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the size Sims foundation since 1905 supporting advances in science education and the arts towards a better more just society more information is available at sys same's Foundation dot org from the family foundation supporting shatterproof a national nonprofit dedicated to ending the devastation of addiction and transforming treatment in America learn more at shatterproof dot org And from the listeners who support this n.p.r. Station. She's been called America's most powerful flight attendant this year Sara Nelson helped end the longest federal shutdown ever and the plane stopped and we said do we have your attention now Leader McConnell and a few hours later we had a resolution Sara Nelson one of the nation's top labor leaders next time on one eg . Thanks so much for your support during the past year in a cluttered world of media choices are service of the community stands out it stands out because local independent journalism is harder to find yet more important than ever stands out because real fact based news is essential toward democracy it stands out because we celebrate the new ones behind every story and pursue diverse voices to celebrate our diverse human experience it stands out thanks to you as you consider making your own country store positively impact their community we hope you'll support it's easy to do at work we have big plans for the coming year and we always remember that you make our work possible. This is the news and information service of southern Oregon University's Jefferson Public Radio 12 30 am talent at 9 30 am. Also heard in the world Valley at one o 2.3 f.m. News of the region the nation and the world. Today. Normal does a lot of political humor and has done material about being black. In the Obama era . In the. White children and when her family or their white friends come over. That she feels like a minority in her own home sometimes. Yeah. The news. From n.p.r. News ay in Washington I'm Jack Speer the House Judiciary Committee has formally approved 2 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump N.P.R.'s Claudio Gore Salis reports the move sets up a dramatic House floor Vo Wednesday on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve the 2 articles of impeachment Friday morning Mr now they are i mr now their votes I. Missed I miss often votes I. Miss Jackson Lee I Miss Jackson leave. Mr Cullen. Mr Cohen votes I The vote was $23.00 to $17.00 on both charges against President Trump the panel voted in a matter of minutes after 2 days a contentious debate over the articles President Trump could become the 3rd sitting president in history to be impeached Clottey said this n.p.r. News Washington President Trump for his part wasted little time in reacting to today's House today Sherry committee vote trump a press conference called the proceedings a witch hunt a scam a hoax and in a barest meant to our country the president also said Democrats will regret today's decision down the line here trivializing them Pietschmann and I tell you what someday they'll be a Democrat president and they'll be a Republican House and I suspect they're going to remember it Trump said he watched quite a bit of the previous day's proceedings and he criticized government officials who say he sought to pressure Ukraine to benefit politically the president said today he believes the impeachment proceedings will boost his ratings in the polls police in Jersey City are still investigating the apparent hate crime that claimed the lives of 3 people at a Jewish grocery store this week the attackers also shot and killed a police officer N.P.R.'s Quil Lawrence has more he says local schools have reopened. The school kids were back at the Sacred Heart School next to theirs.