Bhinneka News Online: Friday Morning Briefing: Flooding on the horizon for South Carolina, a week after Florence

Friday 21 September 2018

Friday Morning Briefing: Flooding on the horizon for South Carolina, a week after Florence

Highlights

Residents in Georgetown County, South Carolina, where five rivers flow into the ocean, will prepare for a deluge of water in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which has killed more than 40 people.

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Chinese military for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, in breach of a sweeping U.S. sanctions law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

POLITICS

Republican President Trump has made transforming the federal judiciary one of his top priorities. Now in his second year of office, Trump has appointed 26 judges to the U.S. appeals courts - a record pace. By comparison, Democratic former President Barack Obama appointed 55 appellate court judges during his eight years in office.

Reuters Politics

@ReutersPolitics

On The Case podcast: Trump is appointing judges to the courts of appeals at a record pace. How big an impact can they have? @ReutersLegal columnist @AlisonFrankel and @PittLaw’s Arthur Hellman discuss https://reut.rs/2Nt6bhu

2:00 PM - Sep 20, 2018

Across almost all demographic groups, more Democrats say they are certain to vote compared to poll results in 2014, the last non-presidential election year. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which has been tracking interest in voting since 2010, finds that Democrats are much more enthusiastic than Republicans about voting in the U.S. congressional elections in November.

Trump gave a full-throated endorsement to his embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and tip-toed carefully around the sexual assault accusations that are facing him.

World

Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang, a former chief of internal security who became one of the most high-profile leaders in the communist-ruled country, died after an illness, state media said.

“If we could attract more women, it could go a long way to helping any future skills shortage,” said Paul Cooper, regional chief executive of mining for recruiting company Sodexo, which is a key supplier to the industry and whose workforce is almost half women. Without change, the outlook is grim. Enrolments in mining engineering courses across Australia have fallen to roughly 30 this year from more than 250 during the last boom a half decade ago.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of two more Chilean bishops, bringing to seven the number who have stepped down since a sexual abuse scandal swept the nation’s Roman Catholic Church.

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Reuters Top News

@Reuters

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two @Reuters journalists, have been imprisoned in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. Follow the case: https://reut.rs/2yPnwus

6:32 AM - SEP 21, 2018

Business

Fed's Powell between a rock and hard place: Ignore the yield curve or tight job market?

Unemployment near a 20-year low screams at the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates or risk a too-hot economy. The bond market, not far from a state that typically precedes a recession, says not so fast.

5 min read

Caterpillar leans on old playbook to cope with Trump tariffs

Six months into the U.S. tariffs on imported aluminum and steel, Caterpillar is finding that one of the best ways it can protect profits is a cost cutting strategy that is more than two years old.

7 min read

Farfetch tops price range in IPO in boon to luxury market

Farfetch priced its shares above its targeted range in a New York flotation that values the online luxury retailer at over $5.8 billion and underscores how big a bet web sales have become for high-end brands.

3 Min Read