Friday Morning Briefing: Underwater in America

Highlights

Heavily-mortgaged homeowners are still facing painful choices a decade on from the financial crisis, as nearly one in ten owe more to their lenders than their houses are worth.

Since the fall of Lehman Brothers, the number of millionaires in the U.S. rose from three to five million, in Europe the number grew by roughly the same amount and China also doubled its millionaires. In the latest installment of our multimedia series, Reuters correspondent Karolina Tagaris explains how wealth has been distributed ten years since the 2008 crash.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is nearing a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors to avoid a second criminal trial, according to sources.

The First Amendment, gun litigation, President Donald Trump’s impact on the judiciary: The hurricane of daily legal news seems to never let up. A new podcast series from Reuters columnist Alison Frankel goes right into the eye of the storm, talking about law and precedent with experts who know their stuff inside and out. Listen to episode two: Is America actually safer because you can’t sue gunmakers over mass shootings?

Growing in size despite its weakening winds, Hurricane Florence crept closer to the U.S. East Coast as disaster mobilizations expanded south from the Carolinas into Georgia to counter the deadly threat of high seas and floods. Reuters Graphics mapped the latest developments.

World

Next week’s inter-Korean summit will test whether South Korean President Moon Jae-in can pull off his role of mediator and salvage stalled nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley described Suu Kyi’s remarks on the imprisonment of two Reuters reporters as “unbelievable,” in what appeared to be the sharpest direct public rebuke of the Myanmar leader by a U.S. official. Read the latest on their case.

Were some Russian oligarchs also a target in the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia? Steven E. Halliwell, former corporate finance head of Central and Eastern Europe for Citibank N.A., writes that Vladimir Putin may have hoped that the Salisbury attack would prompt British authorities to put pressure on rich London-based Russians to explain the source of their wealth.

Sponsored by IBM: Build your AI foundation. Learn how to implement the techniques and technologies associated with AI and machine learning, and unlock the massive potential of your data. Read the report.

 

We looked into the surge in China's rental housing market and it's an incredible example of how a traditionally unattractive sector could suddenly get a shot in the arm with such little oversight. How China's plan to develop rental housing backfired https://reut.rs/2OiAHY4

8:50 AM - 14 Sep, 2018

Business

Exclusive: India's Iran oil purchases to fade ahead of U.S. sanctions

Indian refiners will cut their monthly crude loadings from Iran for September and October by nearly half from earlier this year as New Delhi works to win waivers on the oil export sanctions Washington plans to reimpose on Tehran in November.

5 min read

Netflix reaches for Emmys milestone, but can it outpace HBO?

The next battle in the streaming TV wars will unfold on Monday’s Emmys stage, where Netflix aims to end HBO’s 16-year streak as the night’s biggest winner and earn bragging rights for its marketing.

3 min read

FDA move on e-cigarettes means new risks for Fidelity funds

Fidelity Investments’ bet on a privately held maker of e-cigarettes faces new risks after U.S. health regulators on Wednesday said they are considering a ban on flavored versions of the popular “vaping” products.

4 min read

Top Stories on Reuters TV

Volkswagen is ending its Beetle production

Early-warning system helps Syrians dodge death