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