U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondlandhas told two different stories to lawmakers leading the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, he is certain to face sharp questions about which one is right.
Democratic White House contender Pete Buttigieg,who has climbed into the lead in recent polls in Iowa, will get his turn in the spotlight on Wednesday when 10 of the top candidates for the party’s presidential nomination meet in a debate in Atlanta. The fifth debate will also likely feature another clash over the best approach to expand health insurance coverage.
An ammunition dealerwho acknowledged selling hundreds of incendiary tracer rounds to the gunman who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas music festival two years ago pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manufacturing bullets without a license. Douglas Haig became the first and only person arrested and charged in connection with the massacre.
Hong Kong Protests
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislationon Tuesday aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong amid a crackdown on a pro-democracy protest movement, drawing condemnation from Beijing. “The people of Hong Kong see what’s coming - they see the steady effort to erode the autonomy and their freedoms,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio said at the start of the debate.
Some anti-government protesters trapped inside a Hong Kong universityon Wednesday tried to flee through the sewers, where one student said she saw snakes, but firefighters prevented the escape by blocking a trapdoor into the system. Reuters witnesses said fewer than 100 protesters remained inside the Polytechnic University, ring-fenced by riot police and barricades.
A former employee of Britain’s consulate in Hong Kongsaid Chinese secret police beat him, deprived him of sleep and shackled him in an attempt to force him to give information about activists leading pro-democracy protests. “I was hung (handcuffed and shackled) on a steep X-Cross doing a spread-eagled pose for hours, Simon Cheng said in a post on Facebook.
Emirates unveiled an $8.8 billion order for 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners after intense last-minute talks at the Dubai Airshow on Wednesday, paving the way for a reduction in orders for the delayed 777X airliner. The order shake-up completes a fleet review by the world’s largest buyer of wide-body long-haul jets.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised up to $12.9 billion in a landmark listing in Hong Kong, the largest share sale in the city in nine years and a world record for a cross-border secondary share sale.
Many investors are shunning the riskiest corners of the junk-rated U.S. corporate loan market because of concerns about possible credit rating downgrades, putting the brakes on a run of leveraged buyouts and debt-funded dividends.
