Bedugul Coffee: Tuesday Morning Briefing: Chinese expert says coronavirus may peak soon as death toll surges past 1,000

An emboldened President Donald Trump has set his sights on restructuring the more than $1 trillion U.S. trade relationship with the European Union, raising the specter of another major trade war as the global economy slows and he seeks re-election. Trump, who recently signed a Phase 1 trade deal that cooled a bitter trade war with China, has called the EU’s position on trade “worse than China” and threatened to impose tariffs on its cars and other products.

Lawyers for Harvey Weinstein are expected to call the former agent of accuser Jessica Mann to testify in the ex-producer’s rape case as the weeks-long trial nears a close. Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to raping Mann and to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi. Mann accused Weinstein of raping her in a Manhattan hotel in 2013. She previously testified that the rape occurred in the course of an “extremely degrading” relationship with Weinstein that lasted for years.

New York state sued President Trump’s administration to void a policy barring hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from federal programs that help travelers speed through airport security lines and borders, calling the ban political punishment. The administration’s action last week came in response to New York’s passage last June of a so-called Green Light law allowing illegal immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses and limiting federal immigration authorities from accessing records from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters in Beirut as the Lebanese parliament convened to hold a vote of confidence on the new government led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab. MPs are set to vote on the government’s policy statement which says “painful steps” are needed to address a financial crisis that has weakened the currency and pushed banks to severely curb access to deposits.

Tens of thousands of Iranians poured into the streets of Tehran and other cities to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, against a backdrop of escalating tensions with the United States. State TV showed video footage of rallies in at least half a dozen cities outside the capital, including Mashhad, Ahvaz and Kerman, with people holding signs that read, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

Dozens of Rohingya refugees were missing and 15 confirmed dead after a ship carrying about 130 people capsized in the Bay of Bengal while trying to reach Malaysia, a Bangladesh coast guard official said. Rescuers saved 73 people from the vessel, which had set sail early packed with refugees trying to make their way to Malaysia from camps near the resort town of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, said the official, Hamidul Islam.

Northern Irish police arrested four men on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, whose killing sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence. The men, aged 20, 27, 29 and 52, were arrested in Londonderry under the Terrorism Act over the shooting in April 2019 that was claimed by Irish nationalist militants opposed to the Good Friday peace deal.

U.S. companies cut back on installing robots in 2019

U.S. companies installed fewer robots in 2019 than they did the year before, the first cut back since 2015, as a downturn in manufacturing fueled by trade wars and weaker demand dampened appetite for the machines.

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A U.S. district judge is expected to rule in favor of allowing Sprint and T-Mobile US to merge over the objections of a group of state attorneys general, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

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The deal is likely to be formally announced within the next six months, but financial terms are still unclear, the people said. Around 25 people currently work on the Quorum team globally, and it is unclear whether they will join ConsenSys after the merger, the people said.

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