Monday Morning Briefing: Hong Kong spirals into rare working-hour violence as police shoot protester

Top Stories

Hong Kong police shot and wounded one protester who was in critical condition on Monday, as the territory spiraled into rare working-hours violence in its 24th straight week of pro-democracy unrest. Police fired tear gas in the Central business district where some protesters, crouching behind umbrellas, blocked streets as office workers on their lunch break crowded the pavements.

For U.S. diplomats, public impeachment hearings could be catharsis and maybe a circus. On the first day of November, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent an internal email to thousands of State Department staff that began: “As champions of American diplomacy, we are in the truth-telling business.” The message extolling truth struck a nerve in a diplomatic corps immersed in an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump that Pompeo himself has spurned.

Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive officer of not-for-profit health insurer Kaiser Permanente, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sunday, aged 60, the company said in a statement. Tyson, who held the top job since 2013, was Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente’s first black chief executive and a strong proponent for affordable and accessible healthcare.

Seattle voters, in a rebuke to heavy corporate campaign spending by Amazon.com, have kept progressives firmly in control of their city council, reviving chances for a tax on big businesses that the tech giant helped fend off last year. Amazon poured a record $1.5 million into a Super PAC run by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to back a slate of candidates viewed as pro-business.

World

Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was resigning to ease violence that has gripped the South American nation since a disputed election, but he stoked fears of more unrest by saying he was the victim of a “coup” and faced arrest. Video footage showed clashes on the streets of La Paz and some buildings on fire Sunday night after the military called on Morales to step down and allies deserted him.

Turkey has deported an American foreign fighter and will soon deport another seven Germans, a spokesman for the interior ministry was quoted as saying on Monday after state media said Ankara began repatriation of captured Islamic State militants. Turkey aims to repatriate around 2,500 militants, the majority of whom will be sent to European Union nations.

Authorities declared a state of emergency across a broad swath of Australia’s east coast on Monday, urging residents in high risk areas to evacuate ahead of looming “catastrophic” fire conditions. Bushfires burning across New South Wales and Queensland states have already killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes.

Spain’s acting prime minister, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, faced the prospect of hard bargaining to form a government on Monday after his gamble on holding Spain’s second election this year resulted in no clear winner but a surge for the far right.

Business

Apple co-founder says Apple Card algorithm gave wife lower credit limit

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak joined in the online debate over accusations of gender discrimination by the algorithm behind the iPhone maker’s credit card, fueling scrutiny of the newly launched Apple Card. The criticism started on Thursday, after entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson railed against the card, saying it gave him 20 times the credit limit his wife received.

3 min read

Alibaba's Singles' Day sales hit $30 billion, on track for record

Chinese retailer Alibaba said on Monday that sales for its annual Singles’ Day shopping blitz crossed the $30 billion mark at 4:31 p.m. (0831 GMT), putting the event on track to set a record in its 11th year. The figure is equivalent to over 80% of U.S. rival Amazon.com’s online store sales in the latest quarter.

4 min read

Adidas to close German, U.S. robot factories

Adidas plans to close high-tech “robot” factories in Germany and the United States it launched to bring production closer to customers, saying deploying some of the technology in Asia would be “more economic and flexible”.

3 min read

Top Stories on Reuters TV

Sanders slams Bloomberg for eyeing 2020 bid

Politics   1:12

Massacre brings Mormon sects together

World   1:30
 

Minibox 3 Column Blogger Template by James William at 2600 Degrees