Wednesday Morning Briefing: Democrats claim victory over Trump-backed Kentucky governor
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November 6, 2019
Reuters News Now
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U.S. Democrats claimed an upset winin Kentucky over a Republican governor backed by President Donald Trump and seized control of the state legislature in Virginia, where anti-Trump sentiment in the suburbs remained a potent force. Attorney General Andy Beshear, whose father was the state’s last Democratic governor, scored a narrow victory over Governor Matt Bevin despite an election-eve rally headlined by Trump.
Top Trump administration officialsare expected to be no-shows on Wednesday for the impeachment inquiry by congressional Democrats, who will continue to release more transcripts of the testimony they have already gathered. The fast-moving inquiry, so far conducted behind closed doors, became more public this week after congressional investigators began releasing hundreds of pages of testimony.
Beijing supports bolder actionto tackle the roots of unrest that has rocked Hong Kong for months, a senior Chinese official said, just hours after a knife-wielding man attacked a pro-Beijing lawmaker in the Chinese-ruled city. What started as agitation against a now-scrapped extradition bill has widened into calls for full democracy.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election campaign launchgot off to a poor start, when his party chairman was forced to defend distributing a doctored video clip of a rival Labour Party politician. As Britain heads towards a Dec. 12 election that could shape the fate of Brexit, politicians have expressed concerns that misleading information could spread swiftly across social media.
Iran has started to inject uranium gasinto centrifuges at its underground Fordow nuclear facility, state TV reported on Wednesday, further distancing itself from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that curbed its atomic work. With the injection of uranium gas into its centrifuges, the facility will move from its permitted status of research plant to become an active nuclear site.
SoftBank reported its first quarterly loss in 14 years on Wednesday, whiplashed by an $8.9 billion hit at its giant Vision Fund and marking a rare, humbling moment for CEO Masayoshi Son over his backing of troubled startup WeWork.
Tesla plans to double the number of repair and maintenance shops, add about 100 charging stations and revamp showrooms in China as the electric vehicle maker gears up to open its Shanghai plant.
The United States’ top market cop is slowly taking the shackles off corporations as part of a broader push to help reverse a 20-year decline in public company listings. But a majority of the changes will weaken investor safeguards or diminish their rights, according to lawyers, consumer and investor groups and SEC sources.
