important | 1 | | President Donald Trump’s lawyers are fighting to keep former national security adviser John Bolton off Capitol Hill after he claimed in a forthcoming book that Trump directly ordered a freeze in military aid to Ukraine until Kyiv investigated Joe Biden. Trump and his allies are distancing themselves from Bolton, insisting he only made the damaging claim to boost book sales. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are pressuring their GOP counterparts to allow Bolton’s testimony, which could open the door to more witnesses. What’s the bigger picture? While Trump’s still expected to be acquitted, his supporters worry that an extended impeachment trial could derail his reelection campaign — though Democratic senators running against him are also being kept off the trail. | |
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| 2 | | With 106 now dead and at least 4,515 confirmed infected late Monday — up from 2,835 a day earlier — Chinese authorities are still scrambling to contain the outbreak. Another 7,000 cases are suspected but have not yet been confirmed. The U.S., Japan, South Korea and France are all planning to fly their citizens out of Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicenter. While that’s where most deaths have occurred, Beijing logged its first fatality yesterday. What’s to be done? Despite ideological conflicts between China’s leadership and many Western countries, some commentators are urging a united front to battle the coronavirus. | |
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| 3 | | Safety officials say the pilot of the helicopter carrying the NBA legend, his daughter and six other passengers was trying to climb above a cloud layer to avoid inclement weather shortly before crashing into a hillside at 184 mph on Sunday. An 18-member team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators continued to scour the California crash site yesterday. “It was a pretty devastating accident scene,” said one official. What difficulties are authorities facing? The Los Angeles County Sheriff said the probe’s been complicated by people trying to access the crash site, prompting an emergency law prohibiting entry and patrols by deputies on horseback. Read this OZY piece about why Bryant was a global citizen. | |
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| 4 | | The European planemaker could face more than $3 billion in penalties after agreeing to settle a yearslong bribery and corruption investigation with French, British and American regulators. In 2016, the Boeing rival self-reported instances in which the company inaccurately declared the services of third-party consultants in lucrative deals. Airbus hasn’t commented on the details of the forthcoming settlement. Is this bad news for the company? Actually, shares rose 2.3 percent in early trading amid signs that investors were confident in the conclusion of the affair. | |
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| intriguing | 1 | | The embattled British royal has reportedly failed to respond to interview requests from U.S. prosecutors and the FBI about the international sex trafficking ring operated by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A lawyer for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was forced into three sexual encounters with Andrew, said the prince’s refusal to cooperate “raises even more questions about the role he played.” Andrew says he never met her — despite apparent photo evidence to the contrary. What might he know? The men had been friends for two decades and stayed in touch even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage prostitute. | |
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| 2 | | Following two deadly 737 Max crashes, the Chicago-based planemaker has faced plenty of problems in recent months. Now there’s another: a pair of peregrine falcons that’ll need to find a new home after Boeing’s Renton, Washington, plant — where they’ve been nesting for four years, eating unlucky pigeons — has been idled. The birds could starve if they stick around the factory’s rafters, though it’s still unclear if federal authorities will attempt to trap and rehome them. Is this really a problem? Some say it could be a rare opportunity for the company to score at least a minor PR victory. Don’t miss OZY’s Special Briefing about Boeing’s long stretch of turbulence. | |
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| 3 | | Human rights activist Lina Ben Mhenni died early Monday while awaiting a kidney transplant. Her blog, A Tunisian Girl, was banned in 2007 for documenting abuses during the rule of former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Mhenni, a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, later chronicled the protests that triggered the Arab Spring. In her final column Sunday, she urged Tunisians to learn from their troubled past. How did she become an activist? It ran in the family: Ben Mhenni’s father was a political prisoner who helped launch Tunisia’s branch of Amnesty International. Read this OZY feature about free press after the Arab Spring. | |
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| 4 | | While the #OscarsSoWhite debate has largely focused on the lack of people of color nominated for Academy Awards, films produced outside the U.S. and Europe have also been at a clear disadvantage. But Asia is now challenging that, OZY reports: Of the 34 Asian winners in Oscars history, 22 have hoisted their trophies since the turn of the millennium. Insiders sense a “tipping point,” given that South Korean film Parasite could become the first subtitled best picture winner. What’s fueling the change? Industry insiders credit higher-quality filmmaking, growing Chinese and Indian markets and the emergence of streaming services. | |
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| 5 | | A Saudi-based hacking collective called OurMine broke into the Twitter accounts of 15 squads Monday, deleting team banners and publishing strange messages. The NFL franchises, including Super Bowl contenders Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, responded by freezing their accounts before the platform launched an investigation. The same group also hacked the account of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2016. What’s the motive? It’s unclear — but messages posted to the accounts simply read, “We are here to show people that everything is hackable.” | |
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