Bhinneka News Online: Tuesday Morning Briefing: Fox's Sean Hannity outed as mystery client of Trump's personal lawyer

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Tuesday Morning Briefing: Fox's Sean Hannity outed as mystery client of Trump's personal lawyer

Highlights

U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer was forced to reveal in a New York federal court that Fox News personality Sean Hannity, one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, was also on his client list. Hannity, 56, said that he had never paid for Cohen’s services or been represented by him, but had sought confidential legal advice from him.

The city of Albuquerque passed measures that make it harder for federal officials to deport illegal immigrants, a week after a federal judge blocked a Trump administration effort to withhold funding from cities that took such steps.

Reuters win Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting and photography. The Pulitzers recognized Reuters in international reporting for exposing the methods of police killing squads in Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, and for feature photography documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Follow the latest developments on this story here.

World

As Raul Castro prepares to step down as president this week and hand off power to a younger generation of Communist leaders, his incomplete reforms have left some Cubans worried about the future. Castro has sought to modernize Cuba’s centralized economy, opening it up to more private enterprise and foreign investment and making state companies more autonomous. But he has only carried out a fraction of the reforms he promised.

The Syrian army began preparatory shelling for an assault on the last area outside its control near Damascus, a commander in the pro-government alliance said, building on its recent capture of the major suburb of eastern Ghouta.

Thousands of oil workers are fleeing the state-run oil firm, PDVSA, under the watch of its new military commander. The new leader has quickly alienated the firm’s embattled upper echelon and its rank-and-file, according to union leaders, current and former workers and a half-dozen executives at foreign companies operating in Venezuela.

Venus Wu

@wu_venus

We surveyed over 100 mainland Chinese exporters about the US-China trade dispute and their business concerns. Here's what they told us: https://reut.rs/2H7XqT4 Story here: https://reut.rs/2H5Whzn with @jamespomfret @ReutersChina @jwf825

7:22 AM - APR 17, 2018

Tech

U.S. strike on China's ZTE another blow for Qualcomm

A move by the United States to ban American firms selling components to the Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE will also hit a target closer to home: Qualcomm, a U.S. company that is a major supplier of chips for ZTE’s phones.

5 min read

Commentary: Is this database a bigger threat than Facebook?

While the focus is on what Facebook knows about us, there might be another database that could be a bigger media threat -- the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's plans to build a monitoring system to track coverage by journalists and other "media influencers." President Donald Trump's hostility toward the media has raised fears that the database "could have a more sinister purpose," writes Matt Laslo.

8 min read

Tesla says Model 3 production shut down temporarily

Tesla has temporarily suspended its Model 3 assembly line in what the company said was a planned production pause, as the automaker continues to face challenges ramping up its new sedan.

3 Min Read

Exclusive: Amazon in talks with airline Azul for shipping in Brazil - sources

Amazon is in talks with Brazilian airline Azul on shipping goods in the country, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in the latest sign of the retailer’s big plans in Latin America’s largest economy.

4 min read