Bhinneka News Online: Thursday Morning Briefing: Trump’s former aide Bannon sought to promote 'a culture war'

Thursday 17 May 2018

Thursday Morning Briefing: Trump’s former aide Bannon sought to promote 'a culture war' - whistleblower

Highlights

Trump’s former aide Steve Bannon wanted to use personal information collected online to promote “a culture war,” a whistleblower on now-defunct political data firm Cambridge Analytica told U.S. senators.

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan sought to head off revolts from the right and center of his Republican Party as lawmakers battled over legislation that would protect young illegal immigrants from deportation.

Europe’s technology giant SAP is rolling out mindfulness training to all 22,000 German staff and offering consulting services to other firms. It teaches them to pay attention to the present moment, and tune in to thoughts, feelings and surroundings.

World

South Korea said it would seek to mediate between the United States and North Korea after Pyongyang threatened to pull out of an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and Trump on June 12 in Singapore.

A Myanmar policeman told a court he met two Reuters reporters on the night of their arrest in December, but denied giving them secret documents to incriminate them. His testimony contradicted a previous witness who last week said police had “set up” the pair. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. Follow updates in their case.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe would try to protect its companies doing business with Iran from U.S. sanctions, reimposed over Tehran’s nuclear program, but said giants like Total would make their own choices.

Sponsored by Barclays: The fate of human jobs. Advances in technology have brought us to a tipping point. Is this the end of work as we know it? Get the report.

Commentary: Mexico's populist presidential frontrunner is using Donald Trump's playbook in the upcoming Mexican election, writes columnist Andrés Martinez. "[Andrés Manuel López Obrador] would almost certainly represent a return to the country’s more authoritarian, statist past. With an inward- and backward-looking view of the world, his slogan may not be “Make Mexico Great Again,” but it might as well be “Make Mexico Mexico Again.”