Bhinneka News Online: Tuesday Morning Briefing: Head of hospital dies in coronavirus epicenter

Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Top Stories

The head of a leading hospital in China’s central city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease. The hospital was designated to solely treat virus-infected patients. The number of new coronavirus cases in mainland China fell below 2,000 for the first time since January but the virus remains far from contained. China’s lockdown of cities and tough curbs on travel and movement have limited the spread of the virus outside the epicenter, but at great cost to the economy and global business.

The Boy Scouts of America said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a flood of lawsuits over allegations of child sexual abuse stretching back decades. The bankruptcy is not expected to affect the organization’s programs, which promote self-reliance through outdoor activities such as hiking and camping. The group was already struggling with declining membership and controversy over admitting gay and female members.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday qualified for this week’s Democratic presidential debate in Nevada, his campaign said in a statement, putting him on the same stage as his rivals in the race for the party’s nomination for the first time. A late entry to the race, Bloomberg, 78, has risen in public opinion polls as he pours money from his estimated $60 billion personal fortune into a national campaign, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on television ads.

Nissan’s new chief executive said he would accept being fired if he fails to turn around Japan’s second biggest automaker which is grappling with plunging sales in the aftermath of the scandal surrounding ex-chairman Carlos Ghosn. Makoto Uchida, who took over the top job in December, put his job on the line at a raucous shareholders’ meeting, where he faced demands ranging from cutting executive pay to offering a bounty to bring Ghosn back to Japan after he fled to Lebanon.

World stocks markets were knocked off record highs as two of the world’s mega companies reported damage from the coronavirus outbreak. Apple’s stock fell almost 6% in Frankfurt and all Europe’s main markets fell after the iPhone maker warned it was unlikely to meet the March quarter sales guidance it had set just three weeks ago.

World

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer being held in solitary confinement and his health is improving, his colleague and spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters. Assange, 48, is in prison in London, fighting an extradition request from the United States, where he faces 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

Confrontation with America, economic hardship and an airline tragedy have battered Iranians’ confidence in their leaders, posing a potential problem for the authorities in a parliamentary election this week. As the Feb. 21 vote nears, Iranians are in a gloomy mood, exhausted by a succession of crises that have helped to shred the hopes for a better life they harbored only four years ago.

Russian presidents could be made immune from criminal prosecution once they leave office under proposed constitutional reforms, a senior lawmaker said. The proposal, made by a parliamentary working group, comes after President Vladimir Putin last month announced sweeping reforms to the political system that would shift some powers away from the presidency.

A group of North Korean refugees launched a political party in South Korea, aiming to give a voice to the 33,500 defectors living in the South and oppose conciliation with Pyongyang. “We were always considered minorities and aliens,” said Kim Joo-il, secretary-general of the new South-North Unification Party at its launch at a hall in South Korea’s capital Seoul.

Business

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Walmart sees slowing online sales growth after lackluster holiday quarter

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HSBC to slash investment bank, 35,000 jobs in strategy overhaul

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