Bhinneka News Online: Monday Morning Briefing: Walmart discovers why the 'last mile' is the hardest

Monday, 30 July 2018

Monday Morning Briefing: Walmart discovers why the 'last mile' is the hardest

Highlights

Standing before an audience of 14,000 people last year, Walmart executives described a radical plan to help it fend off Amazon and other competitors from stealing its customers. But months later, Walmart quietly retreated and ended its pilot program altogether in January, according to company documents obtained by Reuters and interviews with more than two dozen Walmart employees.

Paul Manafort will become the first of President Trump’s former aides to go on trial, accused of bank and tax fraud by federal investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

A 70-year-old woman and her two great-grandchildren were among six people killed when a wildfire engulfed entire communities in northern California, officials and family members said. The Carr Fire, which has destroyed more than 650 homes, is the deadliest and most destructive of nearly 90 wildfires burning from Texas to Oregon.

politics

Trump said he would allow the federal government to shut down if Democrats do not fund his border wall and back immigration law changes, betting that maintaining a hard line will work in Republicans’ favor in November congressional elections.

A Reuters analysis shows Aftab Pureval, a Democrat seeking to unseat a Republican congressman in Ohio, is among Democrats in the most competitive U.S. congressional races who have embraced gun control in far greater numbers than in 2016, defying the conventional wisdom that doing so is a losing proposition in close contests.

world

Nearly 700 trekkers headed down Mount Rinjani on Indonesia’s tourist island of Lombok, a day after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 terrified the climbers as boulders tumbled down the slopes of the volcano.

Zimbabweans voted today in the first election since the removal of former president Robert Mugabe, a watershed moment they hope will rid the country of its pariah status and spark a recovery in its failed economy.

Star gazers sought a glimpse of a 'blood moon' as the earth's natural satellite moved into the shadow of our planet for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.

Nadine Awadalla

@nadine_awadalla

Incredible pictures of the eclipse from our very talented ⁦@Reuters⁩ photographers (Shoutout to Cairo’s own ⁦@AmrDalsh⁩ for the beautiful shots from Um El Donia) https://reut.rs/2AnFdSr

8:17 AM - July 29, 2018

Sponsored by Barclays: Job security in the robot economy. As machine learning and AI become more commercially viable, will humans be replaced in the workplace? We don’t think so. Find out why.

Reuters Top News

@Reuters

Two @Reuters journalists have been detained in Myanmar for 231 days. See full coverage: https://reut.rs/2yPnwus

1:27 AM - July 30, 2018

business

How BP found shale profits with 'crystal ball' oilfield technology

In the pine forests of eastern Texas, oilfield workers equipped with virtual-reality goggles are helping BP’s shale business turn a profit for the first time.

8 min read

China tempts Britain with free trade, says door to U.S. talks open

China offered Britain talks on a post-Brexit free trade deal, reaching out to London as Beijing remains mired in an increasingly bitter trade war with Washington, even as a senior Chinese diplomat reiterated its door remained open for dialogue.

5 min read