Friday Morning Briefing: Trump faces more political headwinds on his return from summit in Vietnam

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March 1, 2019 Reuters News Now Sponsored by   Highlights President Donald Trump embarked on his trip to Vietnam with a political cloud hanging over his head and keen to show progress on a thorny foreign policy issue that has befuddled many of his predecessors. On Capitol Hill, the president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was “fully cooperative” during closed-door testimony before a congressional committee investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S election, the panel’s chairman said. Senators propose bill to let thousands of Venezuelans remain in the United States. Republican and Democratic senators proposed legislation that would let an estimated 72,000 Venezuelans remain in the United States after fleeing chaos in their country. Sustainability Wine and shine: As harvesting gets into full swing in Australia, forecasts show winemakers are the latest to succumb to a catastrophic drought that has already wilted the winter wheat crop and is expected to drag the wool clip to a record low. Australia’s hottest summer on record is hitting its $4.4 billion wine industry hard, with grape yields set to drop to the lowest in years, and hopes the heat could produce tastier tipples starting to shrivel like the fruit on some of the nation’s vines. Top U.S. pension funds are asking electric utilities to accelerate efforts to cut carbon emissions but will not force the issue with proxy resolutions this spring, hoping market shifts and falling prices for renewable energy have already made executives and directors receptive to the goal. China’s capital city Beijing issued second-level smog alert ahead of a wave of air pollution expected to blanket the northern part of the country, the government-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported. Several cities in northern China, including top steel-making city Tangshan, have issued first-level smog alerts, the highest in the country’s four-tier pollution warning system. India-Pakistan Pakistan prepared to release a captured Indian pilot as the nuclear powers scaled back their confrontation, at least temporarily, while Indian opposition politicians raised doubts over whether an initial airstrike had destroyed a militant camp in Pakistan. About 2,000 travelers were still stranded in the Thai capital Bangkok and it will take a few more days to get them home after flights were disrupted by the latest conflict between Pakistan and India, airline officials said. World Israel’s Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit announced that he intends to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges, a decision coming just six weeks before a closely contested national election. Netanyahu dismissed the three criminal cases as a political “witch-hunt” designed to oust him. Here’s a guide to Netanyahu’s political and legal prospects. Heavy gunfire rang out across central Mogadishu as Somali troops battled to dislodge Islamist insurgents holed up next to a hotel they bombed the previous evening, and as the death toll stemming from that attack neared 30. Sponsored by Calvert: The Transparency Report How business leaders translate climate strategy into shareholder value. Read more Reuters Top News  @Reuters Two @Reuters journalists have been imprisoned in Myanmar for 445 days. See full coverage: reut.rs/2TqVJJG 2:20 AM - 1 Mar 2019 Business Tesla debuts $35,000 Model 3, sees loss in first quarter Tesla said it would not be profitable in the first quarter, as it offered for the first time a $35,000 version of its Model 3 sedan and said its global sales would now be online-only, steps designed to increase demand and cut overhead costs for the electric vehicle maker. 5 min read Canada seen approving extradition hearing against Huawei executive Canada is likely to announce that an extradition hearing against a Huawei executive can proceed, legal experts said, worsening already icy relations with Beijing. 3 Min Read German juggernaut may face economic jam as tariffs and Brexit loom Germany faces the risk of steep U.S. tariffs on cars and a no-deal Brexit, a double whammy which could bring a golden decade of growth in Europe’s powerhouse economy to an end. 7 min read Top Stories on Reuters TV Venezuelans turn to trash for food amid crisis World   1:58 China's economy takes center stage at parliament Business   2:10 Real news for busy people More Newsletters Reuters News Reuters TV               © 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 Email Preferences    |   Privacy Policy    |   Terms and Conditions