Speaker 1: Good morning. It's Monday, the fifteenth of January here in London.
Speaker 1: This is the Blueberg daybak At podcast. I'm Caroline Hepkitt.
Speaker 2: And I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today, UK police arrests
Speaker 2: six people over a plot against the London Stock Exchange.
Speaker 1: After one hundred days of war, Israel shows no signs
Speaker 1: of backing down in its battle with her mass as
Speaker 1: the risks of a wider conflict grow.
Speaker 2: Plus looking westwards, Taiwanese voters defy warnings from China and
Speaker 2: elect a US friendly president.
Speaker 1: Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 2: Six people have been arrested over and alleged plot to
Speaker 2: disrupt trading at the London Stock Exchange today. Police say
Speaker 2: the pro Palestine activists were planning to cause damage to
Speaker 2: the LSE and prevent the building from opening. Brooks Chris
Speaker 2: bitt Ha's the story.
Speaker 3: The activists from the Palestine Action Group allegedly planned to
Speaker 3: lock themselves onto the exchange's entrance with the hope of
Speaker 3: preventing trading. Today, Monday, the fifteenth of January, man one
Speaker 3: hundred days since the start of the war in Gaza.
Speaker 3: In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said it's also taking
Speaker 3: further precautions against the suggestion that the plot against the
Speaker 3: LSSE was one part of a planned week of action.
Speaker 3: The arrests came as the UK continues to see widespread
Speaker 3: protests against the war in Gaza since it began in October,
Speaker 3: with another rally held this weekend in London calling for
Speaker 3: an immediate cease fire in London Chris Pitt Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: The protests in London come as Big Minister Ishi Sunac
Speaker 1: faces Parliament for the first time since ordering air strikes
Speaker 1: on who these in Yemen. The British government says that
Speaker 1: it is prepared to take further action alongside the US
Speaker 1: if necessary. Here's the Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, and.
Speaker 4: It's hard to think of a time when there's been
Speaker 4: so much danger and insecurity and instability in the world.
Speaker 4: The lights are absolutely flashing red, as it were on
Speaker 4: the global dashboard. And what we need at that time
Speaker 4: is strong leadership and a clear plan. That's what we
Speaker 4: have with the Prime Minister and the team. If you
Speaker 4: don't act against the Huthi's in the Red Sea, you're
Speaker 4: going to see more attacks.
Speaker 1: Cameron also noted broad support in Parliament for the move,
Speaker 1: with the labor leader Kiss Dama backing it. Huthy rebels
Speaker 1: have vowed to target US and UK commercial vessels since
Speaker 1: the Allies launched air strikes against the group.
Speaker 2: Taiwanese voters have elected the country's current Vice president, Lei
Speaker 2: Ching Tay as their new leader. The result puts a
Speaker 2: man in power who had been branded quote an instigator
Speaker 2: of war by Beijing. In his acceptance speech, lie vowed
Speaker 2: that Taiwan would walk side by side with democracies around
Speaker 2: the globe.
Speaker 5: I want to thank the Taiwanese people for writing a
Speaker 5: new chapter in our democracy. We have shown the world
Speaker 5: how much we cherish our democracy. Uses are on wavery commitment.
Speaker 2: The words of Taiwan's new leader, spoken there by a translator.
Speaker 2: Lies victory over opposition parties willing to restart dialogue with
Speaker 2: China is a blow for Beijing's ambitions to have greater
Speaker 2: influence over the island it considers a breakaway province.
Speaker 1: The US state of Iowa kicks off the race for
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four Republican presidential nomination today. Caucuses are
Speaker 1: set to take place this evening, but there are fears
Speaker 1: that sub zero temperatures of below minus thirty could damp
Speaker 1: and turn out. Polling shows that the former president Donald
Speaker 1: Trump has more than a thirty percentage point lead of
Speaker 1: rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Hayley, but Haley says it
Speaker 1: is all still to play for.
Speaker 6: Make sure that you go and make a difference. Iowa
Speaker 6: sets the tongue or where the country goes when it
Speaker 6: comes to these elections. There are no foregone conclusions.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 1: Hailey and DeSantis are widely to be battling for second place.
Speaker 1: Trump has also tempered expectations in recent days would turn
Speaker 1: out likely to be suppressed by the bad weather.
Speaker 2: US rolemakers may have found a way to avoid parts
Speaker 2: of the US government being closed from this weekend. Their
Speaker 2: solution could risk Republican backlash against the House Speaker, though
Speaker 2: Bloomberg's Doan Schwartzman has more.
Speaker 8: Congress has unveiled the stopgap spending built a verta partial
Speaker 8: government shutdown that would take place on January twentieth. The
Speaker 8: temporary spending bill would fund the agencies that face the
Speaker 8: January twentieth deadline until March first, while the bill would
Speaker 8: fund the agencies that would shut down on February second.
Speaker 8: Until March eighth. The Senate will next begin procedural votes
Speaker 8: on the stopgap bill on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Speaker 8: Schumer says it will take bipartisan supporting both branches of
Speaker 8: Congress to pass the bill. House Majority Leader Mike Johnson
Speaker 8: defended the deal, saying it eliminates many of the budget
Speaker 8: quote gimmicks. Dan Schwartzman, Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: The UK housing market has started the years strong with
Speaker 1: a jump in on skiing prices. According to right Move,
Speaker 1: sellers asked for one point three percent more on average
Speaker 1: for their homes in January. That is the biggest monthly
Speaker 1: rise since May twenty twenty three. The online property portal
Speaker 1: said that this month marked the best start to a
Speaker 1: year since twenty twenty for the housing market, which has
Speaker 1: so far defied predictions for a drop in prices of
Speaker 1: ten percent or more. Tim Banister, who is Director of
Speaker 1: Property Science at right Move, said that a surge in
Speaker 1: buyers looking to pin down mortgages in an unsteady market
Speaker 1: might be causing the momentum. Now let's turn our attention
Speaker 1: to what's been happening in London and get you more
Speaker 1: details on those arrests over a plot to disrupt the
Speaker 1: London Stock Exchange. Bloomberg's James Waalcock is here with more.
Speaker 1: What do we know then about the plot to target
Speaker 1: the LSE?
Speaker 9: So broadly, Caroline, we've got three stories here, which is
Speaker 9: the police say they've arrested six on conspiracy to cause
Speaker 9: criminal damage and that is a suspicion of they having
Speaker 9: issued criminal charges in that case yet. And they're basically
Speaker 9: saying that these sort of lock on tactics were planned.
Speaker 9: They're similar to sort of just stop oil where protesters
Speaker 9: glue themselves or attach themselves in some way, and these
Speaker 9: were supposed to be coming today. These protesters were plying
Speaker 9: to try and get in before trading started, lock themselves
Speaker 9: into the lyse and prevent trading from happening. So then
Speaker 9: we also know from Daily Express report to Max Parry,
Speaker 9: he's been an undercover journalist inside this group Palisin Action,
Speaker 9: and he gave the information to the police that they
Speaker 9: acted on. And so he has some quotes that he
Speaker 9: says are from meetings internally where I'm going to read
Speaker 9: you one saying people can trade on their phones nowadays,
Speaker 9: but there's going to be a lot of computers in
Speaker 9: there that people aren't going to have access to They've
Speaker 9: got one hundreds of millions of pounds worth of shares,
Speaker 9: so that's the thinking of the group. Now it's worth
Speaker 9: pointing out no physical trading takes place at the LSE,
Speaker 9: so it is unlikely that trading would have been affected.
Speaker 9: The LC haven't commented to us for the sake of
Speaker 9: the story, but this week of action was broad designed
Speaker 9: to try and cause chaos for any British company that
Speaker 9: is seen to be enabling Israel or the IDF in
Speaker 9: some way. And the third story we have is from
Speaker 9: the Past Action Group themselves, who on x have issued
Speaker 9: a statement saying that an undercoon journalists did infiltrate them,
Speaker 9: but their action will remain undeterred.
Speaker 2: Okay, James, this is all happening on a day when
Speaker 2: we're expecting the Prime Minister Risu Sunak to update Parliament
Speaker 2: on the UK's participation in air strikes against Houthi militants
Speaker 2: in Yemen. What are we expecting to hear from the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister.
Speaker 9: Well, this will be the first time he's talked to
Speaker 9: Parliament since ordering the strike, Stephen, and we aren't expecting
Speaker 9: too much in the way political fireworks because the labor
Speaker 9: eater Keir Starmer has backed the strikes, which means most
Speaker 9: parliamentarians by necessity it will be in support. It will
Speaker 9: be interesting to see where some of the differences lie.
Speaker 9: But the other side is in today in Lancaster House,
Speaker 9: Grant Shaps, one of the ministers in the government, is
Speaker 9: going to announce that twenty thousand personnel from the British
Speaker 9: Enforces will be sent to multiple European countries as part
Speaker 9: of the largest NATO deployment since the end of the
Speaker 9: Cold War. So what will be interesting as well is
Speaker 9: to kind of see this global picture from the Prime
Speaker 9: Minister as you mean you heard from David Cameron and
Speaker 9: the Burton just there talking about this global age of insecurity.
Speaker 9: All this ahead of the week. We'll see on Tuesday
Speaker 9: they're awander Bilt with immigration. That's where you'll see the
Speaker 9: real political fireworks as this global insecurity comes back domestically
Speaker 9: in the ways of immigration.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, James, thank you so much for being with us.
Speaker 1: That is Bloomberg's James Wilcock. They're bringing us. Then, the
Speaker 1: latest details over those arrests on Sunday about a plot
Speaker 1: to disrupt the London Stock Exchange in terms of well,
Speaker 1: we are now one hundred days into the Israel Hamas war.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's get the latest from the Middle East. Now,
Speaker 2: the US has shut down a cruise missile fired at
Speaker 2: one of its ships from a hoothy militant area of
Speaker 2: VM and we have our Middle East Economy and Government
Speaker 2: editor Paul Wallace with us for more. Paul, what, first
Speaker 2: of all can you tell us about these latest exchanges
Speaker 2: of fire and the Red Sea?
Speaker 7: Hi, Stephen, So this one was successfully intercepted, as as
Speaker 7: most missiles shot by the Hooties have been by either
Speaker 7: the US or it's allies since the up taking attacks
Speaker 7: since mid November. But I think what yesterday's incident shows
Speaker 7: is that the Hoofy still retain the capability and willingness
Speaker 7: to attack vessels in the Red Sea despite all the
Speaker 7: strikes we saw on Friday morning and then again on Saturday,
Speaker 7: and the Hoofi's promised the retaliation and they said that
Speaker 7: they would keep attacking commercial ships, and I think what
Speaker 7: yesterday's effort shows is that they they're able to walk
Speaker 7: the talk. We do have to see, however, where they
Speaker 7: still are able to attack ships with quite you know,
Speaker 7: quite the same scale as we've seen since the start
Speaker 7: of the year.
Speaker 1: What does all of this meant for shipping pool.
Speaker 7: So the Red Sea is not closed off to ships,
Speaker 7: and there are still plenty of commercial vessels going through it,
Speaker 7: but way less than before. So if you're a Western
Speaker 7: shipping company, if you're talking about an MSc or a
Speaker 7: musk you're pretty much avoiding the Southern Red Sea entirely,
Speaker 7: and that means you're avoiding the Sewerz Canal as well.
Speaker 7: So for ships going between China and Europe, a lot
Speaker 7: of them are now instead of going through the Sewers Canal,
Speaker 7: they're going around the southern tip of Africa, and that's
Speaker 7: adding days, it's not weeks onto journeys, putting up freight costs,
Speaker 7: and so really adding to the costs of shipping containers
Speaker 7: and all sorts of goods between between Asia and Europe.
Speaker 2: Paul, you've also been writing about this milestone we've been
Speaker 2: talking about in the Israel Hamas war one hundred days on. Now,
Speaker 2: can you put in context for us how significant the
Speaker 2: change has been across the region since the Harmas attack
Speaker 2: on the seventh of October.
Speaker 7: It really has been a huge it's to say it's
Speaker 7: been a game changer, not just for for Israel and
Speaker 7: the Palestinian territories, but for the Middle East. It's a
Speaker 7: bit of an understatement. It really was an historic event
Speaker 7: October the seventh, and it became clear very quickly when
Speaker 7: Israel declared war on Hamas. This was October the seventh,
Speaker 7: when twelve hundred people were killed in southern Israel by Hamas.
Speaker 7: Was the biggest single a death toll of Jews since
Speaker 7: the since the Holocaust, and Israel of course went in
Speaker 7: and retaliated in Gaza in a very big way. We're
Speaker 7: now one hundred days into this war. According to officials
Speaker 7: in the in Hamas run Gaza, more than twenty four
Speaker 7: thousand people there have been killed. So and this is
Speaker 7: something that is going to continue for many more months.
Speaker 7: It's not the rest of the year and beyond. The
Speaker 7: israelis under increasing diplomatic pressure from Arab states, from European
Speaker 7: states and even its may not eied the US to
Speaker 7: de escalate in Gaza and to wind down its operations
Speaker 7: in some way and to stop the sort of mass
Speaker 7: bombardment of parts of Gaza. But Israeli officials are saying
Speaker 7: they still have a lot to do they are intent
Speaker 7: on destroying Hamas. That's their goal. It's very difficult to
Speaker 7: a lot of people say that goal is unobtainable. You
Speaker 7: can't just kill off this organization which is so deeply
Speaker 7: rooted into Gazan society. So we're one hundred days in,
Speaker 7: but we're nowhere near the end by the looks of things.
Speaker 2: Okay, Paul, our Middle East Economy and Government aditorer, thank
Speaker 2: you very much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Now to Taiwan next, where the current Vice president Li
Speaker 1: Chinta was elected as president over the weekend Live from
Speaker 1: the ruling Democratic Progressive Party promised to keep peace across
Speaker 1: the Taiwan straight with China, but Beijing has previously branded
Speaker 1: him as an instigator of war. Let's go in our
Speaker 1: live to Taipei and join our Bloomberg Television and if
Speaker 1: on man, good morning, if on, How should we be
Speaker 1: reading them the results of this vote. I mean there
Speaker 1: was sort of jubilation in celebration is lie one, but
Speaker 1: the lowest percentage of turnout in more than twenty years.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, this is a historic win for the DVP,
Speaker 6: as you say, with liking the winning by a comfortable margin.
Speaker 6: As you say that winning only forty percent of the vote,
Speaker 6: and also the DPP lost its majority in parliament. So
Speaker 6: while voters did defy China's threats about this election being
Speaker 6: a choice between peace and war, they also did voter dissatisfaction,
Speaker 6: particularly when it comes to some of these domestic issues
Speaker 6: like rising house prices, so wage growth and just less
Speaker 6: job opportunities that have drove young voters away. So without
Speaker 6: a clear mandate, the DPP is going to have to
Speaker 6: negotiate with other two parties to pass budgets and legislation,
Speaker 6: which could actually slow the DPP's ability to advantage the agenda.
Speaker 2: If on what does this mean for relations with Beijing?
Speaker 6: Lies victory, Well, as you say, you know, this is
Speaker 6: a man that Beijing despises, right, they'd called him a
Speaker 6: separatist before. What you heard in his victory speech though
Speaker 6: from Leijingzo was still you know, poor head prevailing. He
Speaker 6: said he's still looking to have cooperation with China. That
Speaker 6: was seen as sort of an alive French that was
Speaker 6: given a to Beijing as well. But certainly China, and
Speaker 6: this is known, is not a good news for them
Speaker 6: and potentially quite a bit missed opportunity for Beijing. But
Speaker 6: when you hear the statement of coming through from Beijing
Speaker 6: the Taiwan Affairs Office, they were seen as low key.
Speaker 6: I mean, they didn't really mention Li's names. They mentioned
Speaker 6: about this forty percent mandate received by Lie cannot represent
Speaker 6: the mainstream public opinion of the line of the island.
Speaker 6: But you compare the language that we heard four years
Speaker 6: ago when President Chaani won won that second term by
Speaker 6: a landfly victory. You know, they try to state media
Speaker 6: was calling her selfish, greedy, evil, even militarily as well.
Speaker 6: We haven't seen a whole lot of interference or military
Speaker 6: force thats been shown from Beijing as well. You know,
Speaker 6: perhaps this is just something that we're seeing for now
Speaker 6: from compromise, but I think it's likely that Beijing is
Speaker 6: still going to have to rep at the pressure somehow,
Speaker 6: just given that you know, they've been talking about, you know,
Speaker 6: towent officials here. That might not be in the winter time,
Speaker 6: but maybe once the weather is better, we might see
Speaker 6: more military or economic force being put on Taiwan just
Speaker 6: before the president takes off as in May.
Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the
Speaker 2: stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 1: Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 1: and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: You can also listen live each morning on London Dab Radio,
Speaker 2: the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 1: Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Speaker 1: Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 2: I'm Caroline Hepka and I'm Stephen Carol. Join us again
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start
Speaker 2: your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe