Monday Morning Briefing: Trump adviser says two Supreme Court candidates are a tougher sell to conservatives

Highlights

A judicial activist advising Trump on potential nominees to the Supreme Court signaled that two of the candidates would be a tougher sell to conservatives. Leonard Leo said two names on the president’s short list to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy - Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman - had less-established conservative records, making it harder to line up support should they be selected.

Rescue workers in Thailand brought out two more people from a flooded cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped for more than two weeks, apparently taking the total number rescued to seven. Somboon Sompiangjai, 38, the father of one of the trapped boys, said parents were told by rescuers that the “strongest children” would be brought out first.

A court in Myanmar charged two jailed Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents, moving the landmark press freedom case into its trial stage after six months of preliminary hearings. Follow the latest updates.

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#Brexit betrayed or the end of May: What does David Davis's resignation mean? https://reut.rs/2N0gNzL

7:28 AM - Jul 9, 2018

World

A British woman died on Sunday after she was poisoned by the same nerve agent that struck a former Russian spy in March and triggered a crisis in relations between Western capitals and Moscow. The Kremlin said it was sorry to hear that a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, had died after being poisoned by a nerve agent, but said any suggestion that Russia was involved would be “quite absurd.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off North Korean charges that he used “gangster-like” diplomacy in negotiations in Pyongyang, saying after meeting his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that he would keep pursuing denuclearization talks with North Korea.

Duduzane Zuma, son of former South African president Jacob Zuma, was released on bail after appearing in court in leg irons on corruption charges, the most high profile figure to be prosecuted so far in investigations into graft under his father.

Sponsored by Barclays: Job security in the robot economy As machine learning and AI become more commercially viable, will humans be replaced in the workplace? We don’t think so. Find out why.

Commentary: Poland has become the front line in a growing battle over the future of the civil society institutions that sustain the world’s liberal democracies, writes columnist John Lloyd. In recent days, protesters have filled Warsaw’s streets, “singing the national anthem and chanting ‘konstytucja’ (constitution). They believe that their country’s constitution is being violated, and that the ruling right-wing Law and Justice Party is degrading the law and dispensing with justice by sealing off the institutions which can hold a ruling party to account.”

Business

Trump's trade war splits a Missouri county into winners and losers

Trump’s tariffs on imported metals were instrumental in reviving an aluminum plant that most locals had written off for dead. But in the fields surrounding the plant and across the county, farmers anxious over trade retaliations against U.S. crop exports are delaying equipment purchases, renting their land to hunters and pre-selling crops before harvest - locking in today’s prices for fear they will fall.

9 min read

Chinese customs clears some U.S. goods as new tariffs take effect: sources

Major Chinese ports have started clearing goods from the United States, as new tariffs on U.S. imports have gone into effect, three sources told Reuters, as a trade spat between Beijing and Washington escalated into an outright war last Friday.

3 Min Read

BMW agrees $4.7 billion contract with China's CATL for battery cells

BMW plans to source 4 billion euros’ ($4.7 billion) worth of battery cells from Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology over the next few years, the carmaker’s purchasing boss said.

3 min read

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Floods in western Japan kill over 100

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