Sunday's world stories

The Brexit impasse got worse this week
In the face of clear incompetence on the part of the leadership of both major parties in Britain, Remainers were hopeful that Parliament would assert its sovereignty this week and seize control of the Brexit process. Those hopes were dashed as two key amendments — Cooper and Grieve, for anybody following along at home — failed to pass.
The big picture: We're now back to the status quo ante, with clear majorities against all three of the possible outcomes (no Brexit, no deal, May's deal). There also seems to be neither time nor stomach for a second referendum. Of the three, the most catastrophic outcome, no deal, is also the only outcome that can take place without commanding a majority in Parliament.
Go deeper ... The Brexit dilemma: British politics is broken

Trump says he wants to keep troops in Iraq to "watch" Iran
President Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview released Sunday that he wants to keep an unspecified number of U.S. troops in Iraq to "watch Iran," calling it "a vicious country that kills many people."
Backdrop: The nation's top intelligence chiefs released an assessment last week stating that Iran had remained compliant with its nuclear deal and was not currently working to develop nuclear capabilities. Trump, who also advocated against "endless wars" in the "Face the Nation" interview, fired back on Twitter, calling his intelligence heads "extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran" and urging them to "go back to school!"
Go deeper: All the times Trump's intelligence officials contradicted him
Nissan blames Brexit for decision not to build SUV in U.K.
Nissan confirmed Sunday that a new SUV model that was originally planned to be built in a factory in northern England will instead be built in Japan, blaming uncertainty due to Brexit, per the BBC.
Why it matters: The decision means that hundreds of jobs planned for the Sunderland plant — an area of England that voted heavily to leave the European Union in 2016 — won't come to fruition. And it reflects a wider trend across the business world as corporations seek to move away from areas of global chaos, highlighted by Dyson's recent decision to move its global headquarters from the U.K. to Singapore.
Go deeper: Corporations are fleeing global chaos

China's esports ambitions
China's tech giants have invested aggressively to expand esports in ways that U.S. tech platforms, like Amazon's Twitch and Google's YouTube, have not.
Why it matters: Those investments are what could drive the Chinese gaming community ahead of some international rivals, despite being smaller in reported revenue.. for now. (The Chinese esports market is expected to double to $1.5 billion by 2020.)

Russia to exit nuclear arms pact, begin designing new weapons
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Russia will withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and begin designing new intermediate-range weapons, following the Trump administration’s announcement Friday that the U.S. will officially exit the pact, the AP reports.
Why it matters: The Trump administration formally announced its intent to withdraw from the INF treaty in six months after accusing Russia of developing and testing a cruise missile that violates certain provisions of the Cold War-era pact. Putin has denied doing so, but said that while Russia will abandon the treaty in six months and begin developing previously banned ballistic missiles, it will not deploy any unless the U.S. does so first.
Go deeper: U.S. exit from INF Treaty frees Russia from key nuclear constraints
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