Bhinneka News Online: Monday Morning Briefing: Baghdadi's aide was key in tracking him down

Monday, 28 October 2019

Monday Morning Briefing: Baghdadi's aide was key in tracking him down

Top Stories

In their long hunt for Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi intelligence teams secured a break in February 2018 after one of the Islamic State leader’s top aides gave them information on how he escaped capture for so many years, said two Iraqi security officials. For President Trump, the death of Baghdadi is a signature achievement that may help quell growing criticism from his own ranks, but it is unlikely to offer much relief from Democratic-led scrutiny of his dealings with Ukraine.

Hong Kong has fallen into recession, hit by five months of anti-government protests that erupted in flames at the weekend, and is unlikely to achieve any growth this year, the city’s Financial Secretary said. For China’s Communist Party leaders, they will start their most important meeting this year, with President Xi Jinping expected to champion the Chinese model of governance while fighting protracted economic and political crises at home and abroad.

The European Union on Monday agreed a 3-month flexible delay to Britain’s departure from the bloc as Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushes for an election after opponents forced him to request an extension he had vowed never to ask for.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said it had agreed to withdraw more than 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border, an announcement welcomed by Damascus which said Turkey should now end its “aggression” in northeast Syria.

Argentina’s Peronists swept back into power, ousting conservative president Mauricio Macri in an election result that shifts Latin America’s No. 3 economy firmly back toward the left after it was battered by an economic crisis.

Business

LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, said it had approached Tiffany & Co about a possible takeover of the U.S. jeweler. “In light of recent market rumors, LVMH Group confirms it has held preliminary discussions regarding a possible transaction with Tiffany,” the company said in a statement.

The head of a U.S. Senate panel reviewing two catastrophic Boeing 737 MAX crashes told Reuters ahead of hearings this week that the plane would not return to U.S. skies until “99.9% of the American public” and policymakers are convinced it is safe.

Investors are bracing for weaker results from U.S. shale players in coming days as lower oil and natural gas prices and cost-cutting measures have weighed on third-quarter operations. Major shale producers ConocoPhillips and Concho Resources this week kick off quarterly earnings reports for a group whipsawed this year by volatile pricing and investor demands for improved returns.

Beyond fresh insights into Alphabet’s quarterly earnings, financial analysts could press executives for details on the U.S. antitrust probe by 48 states. Late this summer Texas announced it was leading a group of 48 state attorneys general to probe allegations of anticompetitive practices by Google, largely around its lucrative online advertising business.

U.S.

Firefighters struggle against massive, wind-whipped California wildfire

Crews lost ground against a wind-driven wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of California’s picturesque wine country and driven 180,000 people from their homes as they hoped for a break in the hot, dry weather.

4 min read

Chicago teachers' strike enters another week after talks fail

About 300,000 students in Chicago will miss classes for an eighth day, as the teachers’ union and public school district failed over the weekend to resolve a deadlock in contract talks over class sizes, support staff levels and pay.

4 Min Read

Long-serving former Democratic U.S. congressman John Conyers dies at age 90

John Conyers, a liberal Democrat who was the longest-serving African-American member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving for more than half a century, died on Sunday at the age of 90.

5 min read