Monday Morning Briefing

View in Browser
Reuters
logo-reuters-news-now

French President elect Emmanuel Macron celebrates on stage during his victory rally near the Louvre museum after results in the 2017 presidential election in Paris, France, May 7, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Samson/Pool

 

France

Emmanuel Macron was elected French president, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union. With virtually all votes counted, Macron had topped 66 percent against just under 34 percent for Le Pen - a gap wider than the 20 or so percentage points that pre-election surveys had suggested.

The centrist’s emphatic victory is a huge relief to many European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain's vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump's election as U.S. president. Macron’s immediate challenge will be to secure a majority in next month's parliamentary election for a political movement that is barely a year old, rebranded as La Republique En Marche ("Onward the Republic"), in order to implement his program.

Global stocks, euro dip as Macron win shifts focus to economy

New French First Lady was once Macron’s drama teacher 

Macron to be tough in Brexit talks, but won’t seek to punish UK: economic adviser

Banking on de Gaulle’s ‘majority amplifier’


Washington

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence under Obama, and Sally Yates, who was Deputy Attorney General, will testify today in a Senate investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow.

The White House’s temporary travel ban on people entering the United States from six countries faces its latest legal test today before a federal appeals court in Virginia.

Democrats criticized the lack of women on a working group in the Republican-led Senate that will craft a plan to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.


Aerospace

The U.S. military's experimental X-37B space plane landed on Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing a classified mission that lasted nearly two years, the Air Force said.


Business

 

The largest global banks in London plan to move about 9,000 jobs to the continent in the next two years, public statements and information from sources shows, as the exodus of finance jobs starts to take shape. 

Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo’s largest shareholder, blasted the bank at Berkshire’s annual meeting for failing to stop employees from signing up customers for bogus accounts even after learning it was happening. The meeting also included discussions about Berkshire's succession plans, its controversial partnership with Brazilian firm 3G Capital, and whether it will start paying dividends or make a monster acquisition.

Comcast launched a new cloud-based service on Monday that allows users to control and monitor their Wi-Fi usage as the largest cable provider in the U.S. looks for ways to boost consumer loyalty in its broadband business.

Canada's Hudson's Bay Co has hired a debt restructuring adviser to review potential options for combining its business with debt-laden U.S. department store operator Neiman Marcus Group, according to people familiar with the matter.

Amazon is dominating the nascent market for voice-controlled speakers, research firm eMarketer said on Monday. The number of active U.S. users will more than double for the devices this year, to 35.6 million, eMarketer said.


Canada

Jean-Francois Perrault (L) and Julie Theriault move mattresses from a home in a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, May 7, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

 

The city of Montreal declared a state of emergency on Sunday afternoon as floodwaters spread from torrential rains that have lashed the city since early on Friday, causing the worst flooding in decades, city officials said. 


Iran

The head of the Iranian armed forces warned Islamabad that Tehran would hit militant ‘safe havens’ inside Pakistan if the government does not confront Sunni militants who carry out cross-border attacks. 


Philippines

An ally of President Rodrigo Duterte told the U.N. Human Rights Council that there has been no new wave of killings prompted by the Philippines' war on drugs, and reports to the contrary are "alternative facts.” Duterte has received widespread condemnation for failing to curtail the killings and address activists' allegations of systematic, state-sponsored murders by police of drug users and dealers.


North Korea

From carrot-flavored toothpaste and charcoal facemasks to motorcycles and solar panels, visitors to North Korea say they are seeing more and more locally made products in the isolated country's shops and supermarkets, replacing mostly Chinese imports.


Mexico

The Mexican army says its fight against surging opium production that feeds U.S demand is increasingly complicated by the rise of smaller gangs disputing wild, ungoverned lands planted with ever-stronger poppy strains.