Bhinneka News Online: Monday Morning Briefing: Police hunt for second suspect in shooting at California food festival

Monday 29 July 2019

Monday Morning Briefing: Police hunt for second suspect in shooting at California food festival

U.S.

A gunman killed at least three people at a California food festival before being shot dead by police, and police were hunting for a second person they believed was involved in the killing. Some 15 people were wounded during the mass shooting at the three-day Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California, some of them hurt in the crush of bystanders trying to flee, police said.

President Donald Trump said he would nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who strongly defended him at a recent congressional hearing, to replace Dan Coats as the U.S. spy chief. “John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves,” Trump said, thanking Coats “for his great service to our Country” and saying an acting director will be named shortly.

Exclusive: Trump administration infighting is holding up approval of the first major U.S. offshore wind energy project, with agencies sparring over whether the proposal does enough to protect the fishing industry, according to interviews and agency documents.

American teenager Kyle Giersdorf won $3 million after taking the top prize in a tournament in New York for the popular online video game Fortnite. Giersdorf, 16, from Pennsylvania, was one of at least 100 players competing for $30 million in total prize money, as the booming popularity of video and online games has drawn top-dollar investments and fueled the emerging professional sport.

Business

A Fed interest rate cut is in the bag. What then? U.S. central bankers are expected to lower borrowing costs this week for the first time since the depths of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. That’s the easy part. Whether that inaugurates a series of quarter-percentage-point interest rate cuts that could stretch deep into next year, as financial markets are betting, or something more limited is by far the harder decision facing Federal Reserve policymakers. Complicating matters is the Fed’s desire to make clear that loosening monetary policy is not a reaction to months of pressure from Trump to do just that.

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab said it will invest $2 billion into Indonesia over five years using capital from Japan’s SoftBank, marking its biggest commitment in the region’s most populous market. The investment will go toward creating a next-generation transportation network and transforming how critical services, like healthcare, are delivered, Grab said in a statement.

Barclays, JP Morgan, RBS, UBS and Citigroup are being sued by investors over allegations they rigged the global foreign exchange market, in a test of U.S.-style class actions in Britain. The claim, estimated to be worth more than $1.24 billion, was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, U.S. law firm Scott + Scott said. JP Morgan, RBS, UBS, Barclays and Citi declined to comment.

Small states going big on cryptocurrency. When Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met entrepreneur Viktor Prokopenya in March 2017, their discussion was scheduled to last for an hour but went on for three times that long. The meeting, Prokopenya said, ended with Lukashenko asking him to propose regulations to boost the country’s tech sector. Prokopenya worked with IT firms and lawyers to draft guidelines to cash in on an emerging digital industry: cryptocurrencies. Some two years later, the rules are in place. Investors can trade bitcoin on an exchange run by Prokopenya, while other companies are launching their own cryptocurrency platforms.

World

Beijing reiterates support for Hong Kong's Lam, police

China reiterated its support for Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, and its police, and called on Hong Kong people to oppose violence following another weekend of clashes between protesters and police in the city.

5 min read

Russian opposition leader Navalny in satisfactory condition: hospital

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering an acute allergic reaction, is in a satisfactory condition, a hospital representative said.

1 min read

Britain is turbo-charging no-deal Brexit preparations: foreign minister

Britain is turbo-charging its no-deal Brexit preparations and will be ready to leave the European Union with or without a deal on Oct. 31, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. Raab, an avowed Brexiteer, said the “undemocratic” Irish backstop had to go from the Withdrawal Agreement.

2 Min Read