Nov 7, 2018

Report: John Kelly, not Trump, called Sessions to request his resignation

Shannon Vavra

Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

White House chief of staff John Kelly, not President Trump, called Attorney General Jeff Sessions to request his resignation, CNN’s Laura Jarrett first reported and Bloomberg's Chris Strohm confirmed.

The trend: Trump has faced backlash for the ways he's gotten rid of some of his top officials in the past. For example, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he found out he was fired when the president tweeted about it, and former FBI Director James Comey said he learned about his departure by seeing the headlines flash on the news.

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Axios

Coronavirus kills 2 Diamond Princess passengers and South Korea sees first death

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. U.S. numbers include Americans extracted from Princess Cruise ship.

Two elderly Diamond Princess passengers have been killed by the novel coronavirus — the first deaths confirmed among the more than 600 infected aboard the cruise ship. South Korea also announced its first death Thursday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed more than 2,200 people and infected over 75,465 others, mostly in mainland China, where the National Health Commission announced 118 new deaths since Thursday.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 5 hours ago - Health
Ina Fried

SoftBank to cut its stake to get T-Mobile's Sprint deal done

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

T-Mobile and Sprint announced a revised merger agreement that will see SoftBank getting a smaller share of the combined company, while most shareholders will receive the previously agreed upon exchange rate. The companies said they hope to get the deal as early as April 1.

Why it matters: The amended deal reflects the decline in Sprint's business, while leaving most shareholders' stake intact and removing another hurdle to the deal's closure.

Go deeperArrow7 hours ago - Technology
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Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 7 hours ago - Politics & Policy