Dec 1, 2019

Malta's prime minister to resign in wake of murdered journalist scandal

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli/AFP via Getty Images

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced Sunday that he would resign next month in the wake of a crisis triggered by an investigation into the 2017 death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a prominent anti-corruption journalist, AP reports.

The backdrop: Prosecutors on Saturday charged well-connected businessman Yorgen Fenech on suspicion that he paid contract killers to murder Caruana Galizia, a fierce critic of Muscat and his associates, according to the New York Times. Fenech had offered to give information linking Muscat's chief of staff and others to the murder plot in exchange for immunity, but the government turned down the offer.

The big picture: The fallout from the 2017 murder has shone a light on corruption in the European Union's smallest country, denounced by Caruana Galizia's son as a "mafia state," per the Times.

Go deeper: The free press is getting squeezed, even in democracies

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Sara Fischer, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly, Dan Primack
4 hours ago - Technology

Trump tightens screws on ByteDance to sell Tiktok

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

President Trump added more pressure Friday night on China-based TikTok parent ByteDance to exit the U.S., ordering it to divest all assets related to the U.S. operation of TikTok within 90 days.

Between the lines: The order means ByteDance must be wholly disentangled from TikTok in the U.S. by November. Trump had previously ordered TikTok banned if ByteDance hadn't struck a deal within 45 days. The new order likely means ByteDance has just another 45 days after that to fully close the deal, one White House source told Axios.

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Axios
Updated 4 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m. ET: 21,056,850 — Total deaths: 762,293— Total recoveries: 13,100,902 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m ET: 5,306,215 — Total deaths: 168,334 — Total recoveries: 1,796,309 — Total tests: 65,676,624 — Map.
  3. Health: CDC: Survivors of COVID-19 have up to three months of immunity —Fauci believes normalcy will return by "the end of 2021" with vaccine — The pandemic's toll on mental health — FDA releases first-ever list of medical supplies in shortage.
  4. States: California passes 600,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
  5. Cities: Coronavirus pandemic dims NYC's annual 9/11 Tribute in Light.
  6. Business: How small businesses got stiffed — Unemployment starts moving in the right direction.
  7. Politics: Biden signals fall strategy with new ads.
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Alexi McCammond
10 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Harris: "Women are going to be a priority" in Biden administration

Sen. Kamala Harris at an event in Wilmington, Del. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In her first sit-down interview since being named Joe Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris talked about what she'll do to fight for women if elected VP, and how the Democrats are thinking about voter turnout strategies ahead of November.

What they're saying: "In a Biden-Harris administration women are going to be a priority, understanding that women have many priorities and all of them must be acknowledged," Harris told The 19th*'s Errin Haines-Whack.

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