Wednesday Morning Briefing: Trump slams Germany as Russian 'captive'

NATO SUMMIT

Trump accused Germany of being a “captive” of Russia as Western leaders gathered in Brussels for a NATO summit. Trump told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Germany was wrong to support a new $11-billion Baltic Sea pipeline to import Russian gas while being slow to meet targets for contributing to NATO defense spending.

Russia and Greece were poised to expel two of each other’s diplomats in a rare dispute that Greek media said had been prompted by the issue of Macedonia, which expects this week to be formally invited to join the NATO alliance.

united states

Exclusive: The United States is preparing to undertake a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told Reuters, a year after Trump begrudgingly agreed to extend America’s involvement in the 17-year-old war.

With tears and smiles, Salvadoran asylum seeker Walter Armando Jimenez Melendez reunited with his 4-year-old son Jeremy after six weeks of anguished separation. Jimenez, who was held in two different facilities in Texas, said he did not learn he would rejoin Jeremy until four hours before and did not believe it until he saw the boy.

World

Special Report: Amid high-profile resignations protesting Brexit this week, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s grip on power looked tenuous. But it’s not the first time. And she’s carried on before.

India’s top court began hearing arguments challenging a colonial-era law banning homosexuality, and activists said they were optimistic it would be overturned it despite opposition from some ruling lawmakers.

A Myanmar court has charged two Reuters reporters with breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They face up to 14 years in prison if convicted. The United States embassy in Yangon said it was “deeply disappointed” with the ruling. A spokesman for the European Union also called for the charges to be dropped and for the immediate release of the reporters. For the latest updates.

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: If Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, he will play a decisive role in whether the new Supreme Court will overrule the landmark abortion case of Roe v. Wade. But the real question is not about Roe or the Republican agenda – it’s about whether the court will allow states to effectively ban abortion without overturning Roe, writes Scott Lemieux.

Business

Murdoch's Fox ups Sky bid to $32.5 billion, all eyes on Comcast

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has raised its offer for Britain’s Sky in an agreed deal valuing the pay-TV group at $32.5 billion, seeing off rival bidder Comcast for now.

4 min read

After Tesla deal, Shanghai to speed up cancellation of foreign ownership limits

Shanghai will accelerate efforts to cancel restrictions on foreign investment in the auto manufacturing sector, a government official said, a day after Tesla said it would build a wholly owned auto plant in the city.

3 min read

Pfizer to split company into three units

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said it would split its business into three units and one of them would include a new hospital business segment. The three new units are innovative medicines, established medicines and consumer healthcare.

2 Min Read

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