Monday, 9 September 2019

Monday Morning Briefing: In Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian survivors wonder what next

Highlights

Alive but lost: Days after fleeing their crumbling home and breaking into a vacant apartment to take shelter while Hurricane Dorian rampaged over the Bahamas’ Great Abaco Island, Samuel Cornish and his family caught a rescue flight to Nassau. Asked what waited for him there, Cornish, a pastor’s son, was blunt: “Nothing,” he said. “Just a new life.” A week after one of the strongest Caribbean hurricanes on record plowed into the archipelago nation of 400,000 people, the capital city faced a wave of thousands of evacuees fleeing hard-hit areas, where some 90% of the infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.

Exclusive: Samples taken by the U.N. nuclear watchdog at what Israel’s prime minister called a “secret atomic warehouse” in Tehran showed traces of uranium that Iran has yet to explain, two diplomats who follow the agency’s inspections work closely say.

Hundreds of uniformed school students formed human chains in districts across Hong Kong in support of anti-government protesters after another weekend of clashes in the Chinese-ruled city. Hong Kong is an inseparable part of China and any form of secessionism “will be crushed”, state media said, a day after demonstrators rallied at the U.S. consulate to ask for help in bringing democracy to city.

Wider Image: His people’s link to the land goes back to biblical times, says Michael Netzer, a 63-year-old comics illustrator. His neighbor, a farmer, says the land belonged to his ancestors and has been stolen. One is an Israeli settler, the other a Palestinian living across the road. Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are one of the most heated issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians want the area, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, for a future state.

United Kingdom

On the back benches Jeremy Corbyn was at his most rebellious during fellow Labour member Tony Blair’s premiership in 1997-2007, opposing closer economic and political ties with the EU, which is viewed by some on the hard left as a “capitalist club.” He is now leading an opposition united against Boris Johnson’s plan to lead the UK out of the EU without a withdrawal agreement. Read the full Reuters report.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will try for a second time to call a snap election, but is set to be thwarted once more by opposition lawmakers who want to ensure he cannot take Britain out of the European Union without a divorce agreement.

Business

Apple and manufacturing partner Foxconn rebutted allegations of lapses in people management leveled by a non-profit monitor of worker rights, though confirmed they employed too many temporary workers.

Japan’s economy grew at a slower pace than initially estimated in the second quarter as the U.S.-China trade war prompted a downward revision of business spending, intensifying calls for the central bank to deepen stimulus this month.

Nissan’s nominations committee will discuss potential successors for Hiroto Saikawa at a meeting on Monday, a source said, as pressure deepened on the embattled chief executive after he admitted to improper compensation. While Saikawa has told some executives of his intention to step down, the timing of such a move would be discussed by the committee, said the person.

Consumer lender Home Credit is poised to offer the biggest test of Hong Kong’s capital markets since China’s Alibaba delayed plans for a $15 billion listing last month because of the political turmoil engulfing the city.

 

British Airways pilots began a 48-hour strike, grounding nearly all its flights and disrupting the plans of thousands travelers in unprecedented industrial action over a pay dispute. https://reut.rs/2UG62b2

5:10 AM - 9 Sep 2019

United States

More Americans will die after Trump abruptly ends Afghan talks, Taliban say

President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel Afghan peace talks will cost more American lives, the Taliban said while the United States promised to keep up military pressure on the militants, in a stunning reversal of efforts to forge a deal ending nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

5 min read

Nadal defies inspired Medvedev in five-set epic to win U.S. Open

Rafa Nadal survived a heroic Daniil Medvedev fightback to claim an epic 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 win and a fourth U.S. Open title, moving within one Grand Slam crown of matching Roger Federer’s record of 20.

4 Min Read

U.S. charges Chinese professor in latest shot at Huawei

U.S. prosecutors have charged a Chinese professor with fraud for allegedly taking technology from a California company to benefit Huawei, in another shot at the embattled Chinese telecommunications equipment maker.

4 min read

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