Monday Morning Briefing: Democrats lose ground with millennials - poll

Highlights

Exclusive: Enthusiasm for the Democratic Party is waning among young voters, so-called millennials, as its candidates head into the crucial midterm congressional elections, according to the Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll. The online survey of more than 16,000 registered voters ages 18 to 34 shows their support for Democrats over Republicans for Congress slipped by about 9 percentage points over the past two years, to 46 percent overall. And they increasingly say the Republican Party is a better steward of the economy.

About 50 people from a Central American migrant caravan including women, children and transgender individuals tried to seek U.S. asylum but were not allowed to cross the Mexico border because officials said the facility was full.

Iran’s supreme leader hit out at the United States a day after new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Riyadh, accusing Washington of trying to stoke a “regional crisis” by provoking its ally Saudi Arabia to confront Tehran.

 

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2:05 AM - Apr 30, 2018

World

Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 25 people, including eight journalists who had arrived to report on the first explosion and who were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said. Several hours later, a suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked foreign military forces in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 11 children studying in a nearby religious school, police said.

A police officer who testified that police framed two Reuters reporters has been sentenced to an undisclosed prison term for violating Myanmar’s Police Disciplinary Act, a police spokesman told Reuters on Sunday, without elaborating. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been imprisoned for 140 days.

South Korean trust in North Korea has surged since last week’s feel-good summit at which their leaders declared an end to hostilities and to work towards denuclearization of the peninsula. A survey taken the day North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met South Korean President Moon Jae-in, showed 64.7 percent believe the North will denuclearize and keep peace. Before the summit, only 14.7 percent of those polled said they did, research agency Realmeter said.

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Commentary: Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Washington may have achieved a surprising result, writes John Lloyd. There's a chance that the French president showed President Donald Trump "that the leader of the free world must embrace the ideals of liberty, democracy and the rule of law as well as respect agreements."

Business

Exclusive: U.S. EPA grants biofuels waiver to billionaire Icahn's oil refinery - sources

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T-Mobile, Sprint say $26 billion deal would give U.S. tech lead over China

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Marathon Petroleum to buy Andeavor for $23 billion

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Sainsbury's in $10 billion swoop on Asda to create top UK supermarket

Sainsbury’s has agreed to buy Walmart’s Asda for about 7.3 billion pounds ($10 billion) to create Britain’s biggest supermarket group by market share, overtaking long-standing industry leader Tesco.

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