News Headlines - 14 September 2020

▽Yoshihide Suga picked by Japan's governing party to succeed Shinzo Abe - BBC News

Japan's governing party has elected Yoshihide Suga as its new leader to succeed Shinzo Abe, meaning he is almost certain to become the country's next prime minister... Mr Suga, 71, serves as chief cabinet secretary in the current administration and was widely expected to win.
He is considered a close ally of Mr Abe and likely to continue his predecessor's policies.

▽Choo apologizes for influence-peddling scandal involving son

Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae apologized Sunday over allegations she peddled influence to earn special favors for her son, but denied any wrongdoing... It has been alleged that Choo’s son was given favorable treatment in having his leave extended during his compulsory military service as a member of the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army from 2016 to 2018 due to Choo’s status as a politician. At the time of her son’s service, Choo was chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Korea, serving her fifth term in the National Assembly.
Choo’s aide and husband were purportedly involved in requesting favors in her son’s base placement and in the process of selecting interpreters for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

▽To avoid TikTok ban, ByteDance partners with Oracle in the US | Engadget

TikTok, the social video platform that has dominated American politics for far too long will team up with Oracle in the hope of avoiding a US ban. In a statement, the cloud services giant says that it is part of a proposal that TikTok owner ByteDance has submitted to the Treasury Department. Oracle says that it is the “trusted technology provider” in the deal, and it’s not clear how the ownership of TikTok will be structured. If approved by the US and Chinese authorities -- not a given -- then the months-long hand-wringing over the app, which highlights teenagers dancing to songs, may be over.

▽Bob Woodward criticized for not releasing Trump's COVID-19 comments sooner

President Donald Trump drew widespread criticism Wednesday after revelations surfaced that he had admitted six months ago to intentionally playing down the coronavirus threat... But while Trump's remarks consumed Washington and the political media, another debate took place on social media that questioned the ethics of Bob Woodward, the journalist who taped the president's remarks six months ago and revealed them in his new book, "Rage," excerpts of which were released Wednesday.

▽Jailed Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Fanara bites off prison guard's finger - CNN

A jailed Sicilian Mafia boss has bitten off a prison guard's finger, a spokesman for the Italian Ministry of Justice told CNN.
Giuseppe Fanara, 60, who is serving a life sentence, attacked the guard at Rebibbia prison in Rome in June, according to the spokesman.
The unnamed guard entered Fanara's cell around 8 a.m. on June 17 regarding a phone call, the spokesman said.