Friday, 14 February 2020

Friday Morning Briefing: AG William Barr says he won't be 'bullied' by Trump on Stone case

U.S.

Attorney General William Barr said that President Trump’s attacks on prosecutors, the judge and jurors in the trial of a longtime adviser undermined the Justice Department’s work, adding he would not be “bullied” by anyone. Barr spoke after his Justice Department abandoned prosecutors’ initial recommendation to give veteran Republican operative Roger Stone seven to nine years in prison, prompting all four prosecutors to quit the case.

On the trail: Democratic presidential candidates took aim on Thursday at a rival whose name has not yet appeared on the ballot in the early voting states but whose television ads have blanketed the airwaves: billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Coronavirus

A new coronavirus has taken a growing toll of Chinese health workers on the front line of the fight to stop it, a top official said, as authorities reported more than 5,000 new cases, including more than 120 deaths. There were no doctors, nurses or medical equipment at the Wuhan hotel converted into a temporary quarantine facility for suspected coronavirus patients when brothers Wang Xiangkai and Wang Xiangyou arrived two weeks ago. The next day, Xiangkai, 61, woke to find that Xiangyou, 62, had died. The Wangs are among tens of thousands of families devastated by the coronavirus in Wuhan, despite massive reinforcements and two speedily built new hospitals.

California fights coronavirus discrimination. A flyer in Los Angeles’ Carson area, with a fake seal of the World Health Organization, tells residents to avoid Asian-American businesses like Panda Express because of a coronavirus outbreak. A Los Angeles middle schooler is beaten and hospitalized after students say he is as an Asian-American with coronavirus. These are some of the hoaxes, assaults and rumors Los Angeles authorities spoke out against to stamp out anti-Asian bigotry bubbling to the surface in California, where over half of the 15 U.S. coronavirus cases are located.

Business

The lush, green hills where Paulo Pires has for years brought sheep to graze above his picturesque Portuguese village may soon be transformed by the race to power electric vehicles. Signs of change already give him sleepless nights. Hundreds of drill holes across the countryside show where miners want to excavate the land for lithium, a vital ingredient for batteries used in electric cars, smartphones and energy storage.

U.S. prosecutors accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets and helping Iran track protesters in its latest indictment against the Chinese company, escalating the U.S. battle with the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker.

European shares touched record highs as investors digested whether China’s coronavirus outbreak would cause long-lasting damage to the global economy. Euro zone economic growth slowed as expected in the last three months of 2019 as gross domestic product shrank in France and Italy against the previous quarter, but employment growth picked up more than expected, official estimates showed.

Autos

Volkswagen said talks with consumer groups who were seeking compensation over excessive pollution, caused by VW’s diesel cars, had failed. In 2015 the carmaker admitted to using manipulated engine management software to mask excessive pollution levels in its diesel cars, sparking a raft of prosecutions and lawsuits.

Renault reported its first loss in a decade and cut its 2020 margin target, as it attempts to draw a line under the Carlos Ghosn affair and reboot its Nissan alliance. The French carmaker is trying to move on from the internal turmoil sparked by the scandal with a management shake-up. Shares of Nissan sank to their lowest in more than a decade, after deep cuts to the Japanese automaker’s earnings forecast and dividend raised questions about its future profitability.

World

Italy's Renzi boycotts cabinet meet, challenges PM to find a new govt

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Italy’s government could collapse after his small party boycotted a cabinet meeting over a contested justice reform and the prime minister suggested he was ready to resign.

3 min read

Lenders cheered as Kenya binged on medical equipment. Did patients get help?

Kenya’s health minister celebrated the delivery of a CT scanner at a large county hospital, telling journalists that sick patients could now be diagnosed locally. Nine months later, the scanner has never been used: the hospital has no radiologists.

7 min read

Russia asks Canada to hand over files on ex-Nazi death squad member

Russia said it had asked Canada to hand over case files on a 95-year-old former Nazi death squad member living in Canada to help Moscow with an investigation into the mass murder of children at a Soviet orphanage in 1942. Helmut Oberlander was stripped of his post-war Canadian citizenship when Ottawa learned of his wartime activities.

2 min read

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