Centrists adrift

February 11, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

In both US political parties, moderate voters are having trouble finding a candidate they like.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina are ending their campaigns for the 2016 Republican nomination, narrowing the field of rivals facing businessman Donald Trump for the right to compete in the Nov. 8 presidential election. A senior aide confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that Christie would pull out, a day after the combative Republican's sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate. Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire.

German carmakers Volkswagen and Daimler are recalling 1.5 million vehicles in the United States due to potentially faulty airbags made by Japanese company Takata Corp, the focus of a long-running global safety crisis. The move comes after US auto safety regulators said last month that Takata had declared 5.1 million US vehicles defective, revealing that far more air bags than previously thought were potentially unsafe. Volkswagen said it will recall 680,000 vehicles in the United States due to the potentially faulty airbags, following Daimler which said late on Tuesday 840,000 US vehicles with Takata airbag inflators would be checked.

South African prosecutors plan to charge four police officers for the 1983 murder of Nokuthula Simelane after Simelane's family went to court to force the National Prosecuting Authority to press charges. The move against the former policemen goes to the heart of long-running tension in South Africa over the push for reconciliation among the country's racial groups and the desire to punish perpetrators of human rights abuses during the traumatic decades that preceded multi-racial elections in 1994.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed a formal resolution Wednesday, apologizing for the state’s role in US slavery. “Delaware today is impacted by the lasting legacy of slavery, including ongoing tension between races and the existence of institutional racism,” states the resolution. “It is important for Delaware to make a formal apology for slavery and Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens." The General Assembly passed the legislation in January as an important step toward addressing the state’s continued racial inequalities.

French authorities on Wednesday rescued seven Spanish spelunkers who had been trapped overnight in a cave in the Pyrenees region. The Haute-Garonne prefecture launched a successful rescue operation in the morning, and said that the six men and one woman were "lifted out of a chasm" and are "tired but not injured." Officials said that the Spaniards were part of a group of 15 explorers who began a descent on Tuesday afternoon and eventually got trapped. Eight managed to escape to the surface during the night, and contacted authorities around 4 a.m.

South Korea said Wednesday that it will shut down a joint industrial park with North Korea in response to its recent rocket launch, accusing the North of using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs. The decision to end operations at the industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the last major cooperation project between the rival countries, comes after North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket considered by other nations to be a banned missile technology test.

Sears keeps pruning its business in a years-long makeover, a bid to transform itself from a 123-year-old retail store into a nimble, 21st century operator. Patience appears to be wearing thin. Shares slid early Tuesday to 13-year lows after the company said it would accelerate the closure of some of its stores following a "challenging" holiday season. The company's stock is down 20 percent this year, and they've been cut in half in the past 12 months.

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