News Headlines - 18 November 2019

▽Hong Kong riot police carry out dawn raid on university after battle with protesters | The Guardian

Hong Kong police have laid siege to the city’s Polytechnic University, where about 200 protesters are holed up after a weekend of violence which saw conflict between the two sides reach new heights.
Protesters tried to leave the campus on Monday morning - at the request of the university’s president - but were forced back by police who fired rounds of tear gas. Explosions and gun fire could be heard in videos posted online showing the protesters attempting to leave the area.

▽Hong Kong's High Court rules anti-mask law unconstitutional | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Hong Kong’s ban on face-covering at protests has been ruled unconstitutional with the High Court saying that it “goes further than necessary” in the restriction of fundamental rights.
The judgment on Monday came as an unexpected blow to the administration of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance (ERO) to enact the mask ban without legislative oversight.
The court also ruled that the ERO was partially unconstitutional as sections of the law that empower Hong Kong’s leader to make laws “on any occasion of public danger” are incompatible with the Basic Law.

▽SoftBank's Yahoo Japan-Line merger aims to take on U.S., China online behemoths | The Japan Times

Yahoo Japan operator Z Holdings Corp. and Line Corp. said Monday they have reached a basic merger agreement that will forge an internet conglomerate boasting over 100 million users in Japan with the aim of challenging U.S. and Chinese online behemoths.

▽Two die in French bridge collapse near Toulouse - BBC News

A 15-year-old girl and a truck driver were killed when a suspension bridge collapsed in south-western France.
Two vehicles fell into the River Tarn north of Toulouse when the bridge near the village of Mirepoix-sur-Tarn fell down at around 08:00 (07:00 GMT).
Five people were also seriously injured including two rescuers and local people who had tried to save victims.

▽Teen gunman who killed two in shooting rampage at California high school dies in hospital

The teenager who shot five fellow students in a 16-second killing rampage at a Southern California high school has died, authorities said Friday night.
Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow died at about 3:30 p.m. Friday at a hospital with his mother nearby, said The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Berhow had been in critical condition after shooting himself following the rampage, which killed two other students.