Bhinneka News Online: Thursday Morning Briefing: U.S. House impeachment of Trump sets stage for trial in Senate

Thursday 19 December 2019

Thursday Morning Briefing: U.S. House impeachment of Trump sets stage for trial in Senate

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The impeachment of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress sets the stage for a historic trial next month in the Republican-controlled Senate on whether he should be removed from office. Read our factbox on what happens next.

An embattled Trump condemned the Democratic-led impeachment vote against him, irked that he made U.S. history in a bad way but assured that Republicans in the Senate will save him from being ousted. “This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party,” Trump told a rollicking rally for his re-election campaign.

Split-screen America - Alternate realities on display. Impeachment was a remarkable side-by-side illustration of a political split in the United States so wide and deep that it appears many Americans embrace not merely two competing views of a controversial president, but two alternate realities. On Wednesday, they played out in real time on television and social media.

'Civics lesson' or 'sham trial?' Key moments in the House impeachment debate. Here are some highlights from the back-and-forth between Democratic and Republican lawmakers before the vote.

World

Exclusive: The Brits who won't Brexit. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a thumping election victory last week on a campaign to “get Brexit done,” but not before some wealthy donors to his Conservative Party quietly took steps to stay inside the European Union.

Hundreds of Indians held for defying a ban on demonstrating against a controversial new citizenship law continued their protest in police detention. Public anger over the new law widely considered to be discriminatory is building across the country

Australia’s most populous state declared its second emergency in as many months as extreme heat and strong winds stoked more than 100 bushfires, including three major blazes on Sydney’s doorstep.

Lights out for multilateralism? Alarm as U.N. faces cash squeeze. During talks on disarmament at the U.N.’s Geneva headquarters last month, alarm bells went off in the chamber to indicate that delegates had infringed new cost-cutting rules that restrict the length of meetings. Screens and microphones were also shut off, forcing ambassadors to shout their speeches across the hall.

Sponsored by IBM: Another security tool? Chaos. More security tools = more chaos. You don’t need new tools. You need new rules. IBM Security helps everything work together. And work better. See why IBM leads in Security

Business

Heard of bitcoin's 'halving'? It's set to shake crypto markets in 2020

If you’re not a bitcoin enthusiast, you probably haven’t heard what’s happening next year: It’s called the “halving”, and it will cut production of the cryptocurrency by 50%.

4 min read

Bank of England supplier gave clients head start on briefings

A rogue supplier has been misusing audio feeds from Bank of England news conferences this year, the central bank said, giving traders access to potentially market-moving information seconds before rivals.

3 min read

Peugeot boss Tavares has car manual for fixing Fiat Chrysler

With a track record of streamlining Peugeot’s portfolio of vehicles, engines and platforms and offering generous layoffs Carlos Tavares has a ready-made manual for combining France’s most profitable carmaker with Fiat Chrysler.

4 min read