Obama says Republicans putting US on “dangerous path”
Former US president Barack Obama said Republican party support for Donald Trump’s unproven election fraud claims was undermining democracy. “I’m more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials, who clearly know better, are going along with this,” Obama told CBS News. “It’s one more step in delegitimising not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally, and that’s a dangerous path.” Sources: BBC, CBS News, CNN, Politico and Yahoo News.
Republican support starts to crack
Several senior Republican leaders have reportedly urged Donald Trump to participate in the presidential transition process, even while disputing the election results. Sources: Financial Times, New York Times and NPR.
Vote was “most secure in American history”
A committee of election security officials in the US rejected Donald Trump’s unproven voter fraud claims. The committee stated: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” Sources: Associated Press, BBC and Reuters.
Amnesty: northern Ethiopia massacre
The human rights group Amnesty International said it documented the mass killing of scores and possibly hundreds of civilians in the Ethiopian region of Tigray. Amnesty was not able to identify who was responsible for the attacks. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front denied it was involved. Sources: BBC, CNN and RTE.
Migrants drown in Mediterranean
At least 74 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya. Sources: CNN, DW and The Guardian.
Latest Luxembourg covid-19 update
Out of 11,432 PCR tests conducted on Wednesday, 1,826 Luxembourg residents were positive for the coronavirus. That is a rate of 111.80 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants (down from 126.82 on Tuesday). The reproduction rate was 0.96, below the critical threshold of 1 (up from 0.89). There were 214 patients in hospital (down from 219), including 39 in intensive care (up from 38). Five people died due to covid-19, bringing the total since the pandemic started in Luxembourg to 211. Source: Health ministry.
Cross-border shopping draws visitors
Belgian and French residents have been doing weekend trips to Luxembourg, where shops and restaurants remain open, per Delano. Belgian residents have also been doing shopping daytrips to the Netherlands, per VRT.
Central train station evacuated after false alarm
The capital’s main railway station was completely evacuated after a fire alarm went off. It is unclear what caused the alarm. Sources: Delano and Paperjam.
Cummings quits
British PM Boris Johnson’s controversial chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, will leave his post at the end of the year. Sources: BBC, Bloomberg and Sky News.
EIB gets green “roadmap”
EU governments approved a €1trn green investment plan for the European Investment Bank, including a phase out of financing fossil fuel projects. Sources: Devdiscourse, Euractiv and Reuters.
BNP Paribas deal queried
France’s anti-corruption agency is looking into the fee paid to a middleman by BNP Paribas when it acquired Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage business last year. None of the parties have commented. Sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times and Seeking Alpha.
Trump bars China military-linked investment
Donald Trump signed an order banning US investment in companies that Washington says are controlled by the Chinese military. Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times and Reuters.
Tiktok gets temporary US reprieve
The US government has agreed to pause a ban on the social media app Tiktok that was meant to take effect on Thursday evening. Sources: BBC, Bloomberg and CNBC.
Streaming surge bolsters Disney
Disney reported a net loss for its most recent quarter, with cinemas and theme parks shuttered due to the coronavirus, but its shares rose by 5% after reporting 73m customers for its video streaming service. Sources: CNBC, Financial Times and Seeking Alpha.
Wework losses mount
The office sharing outfit Wework burned through $517m in cash during its latest quarter. Sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times and Reuters.
Telecommuting tax proposal
A Deutsche Bank report suggested that teleworkers pay a 5% surtax on each day they opt to toil remotely, with the funds going to support lower income and frontline workers. Sources: The Guardian, Marketwatch and ZDnet.
Here are 5 science & technology stories you may have missed
Artificial intelligence: Researchers created software that they claim can detect if someone has contracted covid-19 with 98.5% accuracy, based on the sound of their cough, per The Register. Artificial intelligence: Robots could make up a quarter of the British army by the 2030s, per ZDnet. Biology: Researchers identified “roughly 9,900” genetic markers that account for up to half of the differences in human height, per Science magazine. Biology: Future space miners could use bacteria to help speed up the process of extracting rare minerals, per MIT Technology Review. Fauna: Dogs have been domesticated a lot longer than you might think, per Smithsonian magazine.
Japan: Place your bid
The city of Saga, some 1,000km southwest of Tokyo, is auctioning off its old traffic lights. “I think they will be valuable pieces of furniture for any traffic light fans,” a city official told NHK.
Japan: Mayor trending online
The mayor of Yamato, in southwestern Japan (population: around 15,000), has been receiving lots of international messages lately. His name? “Jo Baiden”, per DW.
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald