Bedugul Coffee: Thursday Morning Briefing: Florida community seeks answers after high school shooting

Highlights

A Florida community will join together to mourn the 17 victims of a suspected lone gunman, as officials seek to discover how the heavily-armed teenager managed to mingle with students in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The bloodshed was the latest outbreak of gun violence that has become a regular occurrence at U.S. schools and colleges.

In his Iron Man helmet and red racing suit, South Korean Yun Sung-bin has seen off rival riders in high-tech skinsuits, led his heats in the men’s skeleton and emerged as the one of the host country’s favorite athletes at the Winter Olympics.

Other uniforms that are catching people’s eyes are the skull-covered, Day of the Dead-themed suits worn by the Mexican Alpine skiing team are a hit with the athletes and have even won over their initially skeptical Olympic Committee, racer Sarah Schleper said. Read more features and insight from our reporters at the Winter Olympics here.

Stocks, bond yields and commodities steamed higher while the dollar tumbled, as investors suddenly seemed to forget the inflation fears blamed for a brutal market sell-off in recent weeks.

world

Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of South Africa by parliament today after Jacob Zuma resigned overnight, heeding orders of the ruling African National Congress to bring an end to his nine scandal-plagued years in power.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai died yesterday after a long battle with cancer, casting his Movement for Democratic Change party into the unknown less than three months after the army ousted long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.

Commentary: The U.S. is stuck in Syria — with no mission. The U.S. helped Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat Islamic State and to carve out large swaths of territory, but American troops in Syria are now in an awkward position, writes Peter Apps. “U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration does not seem to know what it wants to achieve” in Syria, and the SDF cannot hold its ground without U.S. backing. “Now the United States is finding itself forced to engage, though it no longer has any clearly articulated mission of its own.”