Bedugul Coffee: Thursday Morning Briefing: Hurricane Michael heads northeast, leaving devastation in Florida

Highlights

The third-most powerful storm ever to strike the U.S. mainland headed northeast to soak Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving the Florida Panhandle to assess the devastation left by Hurricane Michael.

Special Report: One-year-old Emily Price had lethargy and hearing problems. She refused to eat. After she tested positive for lead poisoning, state inspectors found her living in a Louisiana National Guard-operated home with toxic dust and soil. Reuters investigates how the Guard left the Prices in the dark as Emily’s lead levels surged.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh is unlikely to heed calls by critics to step aside from certain politically charged U.S. Supreme Court cases in which his fairness and independence might be questioned after a divisive confirmation fight, according to legal experts.

Markets

European stocks slumped to a more than an 18-month low after Wall Street’s worst losses in eight months triggered a surge of global selling that knocked over Asia too.

For stock investors, the recent spike in bond yields may be prompting some uncomfortable deja vu. Back in late January and early February, there was a 10 percent correction in the S&P 500, with stock investors spooked as Treasury yield increases intensified with a monthly payrolls report showing the biggest wage gains for workers since 2009. This time around, strong economic data worried bond investors, who sent the benchmark yield on Tuesday to 3.261 percent, the highest since early May 2011.

World

Former British leader Tony Blair said there was a 50-50 chance of another Brexit referendum as Prime Minister Theresa May will be unlikely to secure a parliamentary majority for any divorce deal.

For the fourth year running, Stanford University tops Reuters’ ranking of the World’s Most Innovative Universities, a list that identifies and ranks the educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and power new markets and industries.

Commentary: The disappearance and possible murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has cast a long shadow over Saudi Arabia’s global image, writes Maysam Behravesh, a multimedia journalist at the TV channel Iran International. If the Saudi government did in fact kill or kidnap him, the crime would have significant implications for Middle East politics. It would also provoke renewed criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who since assuming office in June 2017 has overseen a crackdown on dissent, including frequent arrests of religious leaders, intellectuals, activists as well as royals critical of his rule.