Bhinneka News Online: Tuesday Morning Briefing: America's brick-by-brick hardening towards Russia

Tuesday 27 March 2018

Tuesday Morning Briefing: America's brick-by-brick hardening towards Russia

Highlights

The United States is expelling 60 Russian diplomats, joining governments across Europe in punishing the Kremlin for a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain. America’s most sweeping expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War may have seemed like a dramatic escalation in Washington’s response to Moscow, but the groundwork for a more confrontational U.S. posture had been taking shape for months — in plain sight.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over the misuse of users’ data as the company faces further pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. In the latest development, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie said that Canadian company AggregateIQ worked on software called Ripon which was used to identify Republican voters ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

GlaxoSmithKline is buying Novartis out of their consumer healthcare joint venture for $13 billion, taking full control of products including Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol headache tablets, muscle gel Voltaren, and Nicotinell patches.

World

Dozens of Chinese naval vessels are exercising this week with an aircraft carrier in a large show of force off Hainan island in the South China Sea, satellite images obtained by Reuters show. The photos, taken yesterday show what some analysts described as an unusually large display of the Chinese military’s growing naval might.

Commentary: South Africa’s Ramaphosa now must deal with the Zuma faction’s last-gasp dose of venom, injected at the 2017 party conference that ended Zuma’s reign. The poison pill: engineering a momentous policy change that committed the ANC to land expropriation without compensation. Can Ramaphosa find a way to dilute his party's commitment to the policy, asks William Saunderson-Meyer.

Sponsored by IBM: Let's make smart work for you. Technology today is smart. But is smart enough? You have to know how to apply it, train it, trust it, and make it secure. Learn how to put smart to work.

Andrew Osborn

@A_Osborn

Most of the staff ran away and left children to their fate' - #Putin, at fatal mall fire scene, pledges action as anger mounts https://reut.rs/2GgIEJ4 via @Reuters with reporting from @polina__ivanova #Russia #Kemerovo

11:18 AM - MAR 27, 2018

Jean YoonVerified account

@ReutersJean

Beijing shrouded in security, speculation over mystery #NorthKorea guest https://reut.rs/2GgIodd

11:54 AM - MAR 27, 2018

Charged: the future of auto

Hyundai union head fears GM-like crisis; says electric cars destroy jobs

“Electric cars are disasters. They are evil. We are very nervous,” Ha Bu-young, the head of the Hyundai Motor union, South Korea’s biggest and most powerful union, told Reuters in an interview late last week, warning Hyundai workers may face a similar crisis to the one hitting General Motors’ South Korean unit as sales in key markets slide.

4 Min Read

Nissan spins up new plant to give second life to EV batteries

At a small plant intended to help revitalize a town ravaged by the 2011 earthquake, Nissan is giving its costly electric vehicle batteries new life after they pass their peak performance.

4 min read

China draws up plans to promote standardization in electric vehicles

China said it will work to improve levels of standardization in its electric vehicle industry - a sector it is aggressively promoting to help combat smog and to position the country as a leading car-making giant in the future. More coverage on the future of the auto industry.

2 min read