Monday Morning Briefing: Trump says 'nothing to hide' from Mueller

Politics

Trump said he had “nothing to hide” from the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and denied that his top lawyer had turned on him by cooperating with the probe.

The jury in the trial of Paul Manafort will deliberate for a third day about whether to convict the former Trump campaign chairman of up to 18 criminal charges related to bank and tax fraud and his failure to disclose overseas bank accounts.

Trade War

A broad cross-section of U.S. businesses have a message for the Trump administration: new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports will force Americans to pay more for items they use throughout their daily lives, from cradles to coffins.

Larry Sloven arrived in southern China three decades ago, just as the region was taking off as the low-cost manufacturing center of the world. Since then, he has exported millions of dollars of goods, ranging from power tools to LED lights, to some of America’s biggest retailers. That era may now be coming to an end.

World

Some 90 families from the two Koreas were reunited in the North, weeping and embracing each after being torn apart for more than six decades by the 1950-53 Korean War. The brief reunions, which will last only 11 hours, are the first in three years, and took place in the North’s tourist resort on Mount Kumgang after the two Koreas renewed exchanges this year following a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

Indian health authorities prepared defenses against the spread of disease in flood-hit Kerala state as water receded and a huge clean-up gathered pace after the worst floods in a century killed more than 200 people.

The judge in the trial of two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar on accusations of obtaining secret state documents said he will deliver his verdict on Aug. 27, in a case seen as a test of press freedom in the fledgling democracy.

Commentary: Trump's "get tough" policy with Turkey, a NATO ally and traditional bulwark of American policy in the Middle East, was long overdue, writes Howard Eissenstat, an associate professor of Middle East History at St. Lawrence University. "Unfortunately, the Trump administration has botched the job... The White House took an unhappy marriage and steered it towards an angry – and equally unhappy – divorce."

Venezuela

Inflation hit 82,700 percent in July as the Venezuela's socialist economic model continues to unravel, meaning purchases of basic items such as a bar of soap or a kilo of tomatoes require piles of cash that is often difficult to obtain.

Alexandra Ulmer  @AlexandraUlmer

More stores set to close, unable to stomach a 60-fold increase of the minimum wage. That means more unemployment, and probably even more emigration. https://reut.rs/2PpLdOf

11:32 AM - Aug 18, 2018

Business

Commentary: Don’t cheer Greece’s bailout exit just yet

On Monday, more than eight years after its first euro zone bailout, Greece left its third financial rescue program. This is a welcome Grexit, writes columnist Paul Wallace, but before popping open the champagne it’s important to remember that Athens remains in thrall to its European creditors, who have failed to put the Greek economy on a sustainable footing.

6 Min Read

Exclusive: China shifts to Iranian tankers to keep oil flowing amid U.S. sanctions - sources

Chinese buyers of Iranian oil are starting to shift their cargoes to vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker for nearly all of their imports to keep supply flowing amid the re-imposition of economic sanctions by the United States.

4 min read

Exclusive: Saudi PIF in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid - sources

PIF, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said could help him fund a $72 billion deal to take his electric car maker private, is in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid Motors, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

4 min read

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