Bhinneka News Online: Thursday Morning Briefing: After fiery debate attacks on Bloomberg, Democrats scatter on campaign trail

Thursday, 20 February 2020

Top Stories

The Democratic presidential contenders begin a frantic dash for votes after a fiery debate featuring a volley of attacks on big-spending billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who was making his debut on the national debate stage. With two days to go before the presidential caucuses in Nevada and contests looming in 14 states on Super Tuesday on March 3, including California, Utah and Colorado, the candidates will scatter across those four states for rallies and get-out-the vote events.

U.S. President Donald Trump offered to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he said that Russia had nothing to do with WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic Party emails in 2016, a London court heard. Assange appeared by videolink from prison as lawyers discussed the management of his hearing next week to decide whether he should be extradited to the United States.

A suspected right-wing extremist shot dead nine people, some of them migrants from Turkey, in an overnight rampage through a German city before killing himself, officials said. The attack targeted two shisha bars in Hanau, a town close to Frankfurt in the western state of Hesse. Police chased a car used to leave the scene of one shooting to its owner’s address, where they found the bodies of a 43-year-old German man and his 72-year-old mother, Hesse interior minister Peter Beuth said.

Scores of new coronavirus cases and a first death in South Korea fanned fears of the global spread of the pathogen as research suggested it was more contagious than thought and China appealed to its Southeast Asian neighbours for solidarity. China, where the virus emerged in December, reported a sharp drop in new cases but the data was partly attributable to a change in how it diagnoses the virus and the figures could not quell growing alarm about its spread.

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and elites in Washington D.C. Now, one Indian city is racing to clean up a stagnant river as he prepares to visit. Trump arrives in India on Feb. 24 on a maiden two-day trip that aims to repair bilateral relations hurt by a trade spat. He plans to visit the western city of Ahmedabad and India’s capital New Delhi, as well as Agra, where he will view the famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, at sunset.

World

France and Germany signed a $161.84 million deal on Thursday to develop a prototype of the next generation fighter jet, a project seen as vital for Europe to defend itself without relying on allies in an increasingly uncertain world. Dassault Aviation and Airbus will build the aircraft, which is expected to be operational from 2040.

Lesotho’s prime minister Thomas Thabane is to be charged soon with the murder of his wife, the deputy police commissioner said on Thursday. Former first lady Lipolelo Thabane was shot dead in June 2017 near her home in Maseru. The prime minister’s current wife was detained this month and charged with ordering the murder.

The Kremlin said that the United States was causing problems for Russian diplomats by not issuing them visas in good time, something it said was impeding their work at the United Nations. “This is hindering the work of the United Nations and it is a big problem,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

A week shy of his 18th birthday, climate activist Luke Wijohn is planning to take down New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a general election later this year, having been selected by the Green Party to contest her constituency. Should he take Auckland’s Mount Albert seat off Ardern in the Sept. 19 poll, which appears unlikely, Wijohn would become the youngest lawmaker to be elected in New Zealand.

Business

EU privacy body warns of privacy risks in Google, Fitbit deal

Alphabet-owned Google’s $2.1 billion bid for fitness trackers company Fitbit could pose privacy risks, the European Data Protection Board warned on Thursday, adding its voice to other critics of the deal.

2 min read

UBS's tech-savvy new boss Hamers not always loved by the Dutch

Ralph Hamers made his mark as a tech-savvy chief executive who led Dutch bank ING back to profitability after cementing its position as a no-frills lender in Germany and simplifying its product portfolio.

4 min read

Dollar tramples yen and everything else in its path

The dollar trampled everything in its path on Thursday after a steep and sudden slide in the Japanese yen called into question its safe haven status and others from the euro to the Australian dollar were all knocked over.

4 min read