Tuesday Morning Briefing

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Reuters
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North Korea

  • Fears have risen that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch on the anniversary of the founding of its military today. But instead, the country deployed a large number of long-range artillery units in the region of Wonsan on its east coast for a live-fire drill, South Korea's military said. 
  • Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire 100-member U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the administration should be telling senators it had a "red line," if it has one. "By 2020, if nothing changes inside of North Korea, they'll have the technology, they'll have a breakthrough, to develop an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) that can reach America," Graham said.
  • A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the meeting clearly reflected the U.S. pressure that could "ignite a full-out war" on the Korean peninsula. 
  • North Korea rarely allows foreign correspondents into the country, but when it does, it makes them pay about $2,500 each. That’s around 5 years of wages for an average North Korean

Aerospace

Boeing is nearing a decision to launch a larger version of its 737 workhorse jet within two months to counter strong sales of the Airbus A321neo, after a breakthrough on the design for one of its parts, industry sources said.

After three years of delays and almost a decade in development, China's answer to the Boeing 737 and its state-employed designers face a daunting phase: selling the jet abroad in a market dominated by Boeing and Airbus.


France

French far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen said his daughter Marine, who faces centrist Emmanuel Macron in a May 7 presidential runoff, should have campaigned more aggressively for Sunday's first round. “If I'd been in her place I would have had a Trump-like campaign, a more open one, very aggressive against those responsible for the decadence of our country, whether left or right," 88-year-old Jean-Marie Le Pen told RTL radio. The two have been at odds since Marine Le Pen launched moves to clean the National Front's image of xenophobic associations ahead of the 2017 elections.

 


U.S.

President Donald Trump indicated he’d be open to delaying his push to secure funds for his promised border wall with Mexico, potentially eliminating a sticking point as lawmakers work to avoid a looming shutdown of the federal government later this week.

The U.S. government's costs could increase by $2.3 billion in 2018 if Congress and President Trump decide not to fund Obamacare-related payments to health insurers, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Trump has threatened to withhold the payments to force Democrats to the negotiating table on a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare.

A police officer said "minimal but necessary force" was used to remove a United Airlines customer from a plane in what has become a public relations disaster for the company.

Arkansas carried out back-to-back executions on Monday night, administering lethal injections to two men convicted of rape and murder and became the first U.S. state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day in 17 years.

Farmer Piet Warmerdam picks up a yellow tulip from a red flower field as its growth could damage the rest, in Den Helderin, Netherlands April 22, 2017. Picture taken April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Cris Toala Olivares


 

Energy

A new pipeline from Russia's Arctic fields to Germany will boost Moscow's share of the European gas market despite competition from Qatar and the United States, and will also mean much less fuel goes via Ukraine, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said.


Banking

HSBC has been formally mandated as an adviser on the initial public offering of Saudi Arabia's national oil giant Aramco IPO-ARMO.SE, expected to be the world's largest ever IPO, HSBC's chief executive said.

A shareholder vote scheduled for Tuesday could throw Wells Fargo’s leadership into question if many directors, criticized for their slow response to the bank's phony-account scandal, fail to win solid majorities.


Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May will call on voters on Tuesday to drop the "tribal politics" of the past and back her plan for leaving the European Union.

Breakingviews: Theresa May channels Margaret Thatcher in reverse


‘Fix the news’

Jimmy Wales, the founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has launched a website called ‘Wikitribune’ aimed at countering the spread of fake news by bringing together professional journalists and a community of volunteers and supporters to produce news articles.