Thursday, 6 February 2020

Thursday Morning Briefing: Trump's trial is over but the final verdict is not yet in.

Politics

Trump's trial is over but the final verdict is not yet in. In Hollywood, it is called a false ending – where the story appears to be heading to a close but is not yet over. President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial ended on Wednesday with a conclusion that was unsurprising – his acquittal. But in reality the end of the story will play out in November, when American voters go to the polls.

President Donald Trump emerged confident and ready to press on with his re-election effort on Wednesday after the Democratic-led impeachment drive that he denounced as illegitimate crashed to a halt in the Republican-led Senate. Republican Senator Mitt Romney issued a scathing criticism of Donald Trump on Wednesday as he broke with his party and voted to convict the U.S. president for abuse of power in his impeachment trial.

When it was over, the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump produced 135 days of partisan rancor, 17 witness accounts, more than 28,000 pages of documents and testimony, and one big loose end. The impeachment inquiry provided a remarkable inside view of a White House effort to secure politically beneficial investigations by Ukraine’s government at a time when Trump is seeking re-election.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed on Wednesday to go on fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination despite what he called the “gut punch” he took in Iowa, where he lagged in fourth place.

World

Ten more people on a quarantined cruise liner in Japan have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Thursday, as health experts stepped up efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that has provoked fears of a global pandemic. The death toll in China now exceeds 500.

At least three employees of a multinational company that held a meeting of more than 100 international staff in Singapore have contracted the new coronavirus, sparking a World Health Organization investigation of the case. Malaysia and South Korea have confirmed three cases of the virus related to the mid-January company meeting held with 94 overseas staff at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

The rapidly spreading virus in China and a shortage of medical resources are prompting people to resort to unorthodox ways to obtain treatment, with some appealing to HIV patients and unauthorized importers for medicine.

Drugmakers racing to find a vaccine or effective treatment for the deadly new coronavirus in China cautioned that they have a long way to go. That runs counter to reports of a supposed “breakthrough” that on Wednesday boosted financial markets and spurred optimism not necessarily backed by reality.

Business

China to halve tariffs on some U.S. imports as virus risks grow

China on Thursday said it would halve additional tariffs levied against 1,717 U.S. goods last year, following the signing of a Phase 1 deal that brought a truce to a bruising trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

5 min read

Tesla tumbles 17% as electrifying rally loses power

Tesla’s stock tumbled 17% on Wednesday, hitting the brakes on a dramatic rally as a senior executive said the coronavirus outbreak in China would delay deliveries of its Model 3 cars and analysts warned of its high valuation.

4 min read

Toyota lifts profit outlook, mulls alternatives to China-made parts amid virus outbreak

Toyota nudged up its annual operating profit forecast by 4.2% on favorable currency rates and better-than-expected sales, but added the impact of the new coronavirus was hard to gauge and had not yet been factored in.

4 min read

China's mobile giants to take on Google's Play store - sources

China’s Xiaomi, Huawei Technologies, Oppo and Vivo are joining forces to create a platform for developers outside China to upload apps onto all of their app stores simultaneously, in a move analysts say is meant to challenge the dominance of Google’s Play store.

4 min read

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