Friday Morning Briefing: China says U.S. must show sincerity for talks

Top News

The United States must show sincerity if it is to hold meaningful trade talks, China said after President Trump dramatically raised the stakes with a potentially devastating blow to China's Huawei. Beijing has yet to say whether or how it will retaliate to the latest escalation in trade tensions, which saw Washington put the telecoms equipment giant on a blacklist that will make it difficult for it to do business with U.S. companies. Over the last month the U.S.-China trade war has boosted the risk of a U.S. recession, say a strong majority of economists polled by Reuters, who now put the chances of that happening in the next two years at 40%.

President Trump took out a new 30-year mortgage on a sprawling oceanfront house steps from his own Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and it is sitting empty on the rental market, according to financial disclosures made public by the Office of Government Ethics. The $18.5 million West Palm Beach mansion was purchased in May 2018 from one of Trump’s older sisters and was secured with an $11.2 million mortgage that has a 4.5% interest rate, Florida public records show.

Former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller information about attempts by people tied to the Trump administration and Congress to obstruct the Russia investigation, court documents showed. The documents revealed for the first time sections that had originally been blacked out before last month’s release of Mueller’s report on his probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

A movement to boycott Alabama over its near-ban on abortion gained momentum as officials in Maryland and Colorado called for economic retaliation and online flyers urged people not to buy anything in, or from Alabama. A day after the southern state passed the country’s most restrictive abortion law, Maryland’s Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot said he would advise his state’s $52 billion pension fund to divest from Alabama, and urged other states to follow suit.

President Donald Trump proposed overhauling the U.S. immigration system to favor young, educated, English-speaking applicants instead of people with family ties to Americans, a plan he will push in his 2020 re-election campaign but has little to no chance of being approved in Congress.

Brexit

Britain’s tumultuous divorce from the European Union was again in disarray as the opposition Labour Party declared last-ditch cross-party talks were dead in the twilight of Prime Minister Theresa May’s premiership. Labour's leader Jeremy Corbyn broke off Brexit talks with Theresa May’s Conservatives, saying in a letter "it has become clear that, while there are some areas where compromise has been possible, we have been unable to bridge important policy gaps between us."

Who is hoping to be Britain's next prime minister? Theresa May has said she will step down before the next phase of Brexit negotiations and, although she has not put a date on her departure, senior members of her Conservative Party are jostling to replace her. Here are Conservatives who have either said they plan to put themselves forward or are widely expected to run.

World

Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, as thousands of demonstrators outside parliament cheered and waved rainbow flags, despite deep divisions over marriage equality. Lawmakers of the majority Democratic Progressive Party backed the bill, which passed 66 to 27, although the measure could complicate President Tsai Ing-wen’s bid to win a second term in presidential elections next year. Demonstrators braved heavy rain outside parliament in Taipei, the capital, with some embracing tearfully as others hailed the vote with chants of “Asia’s first,” and “Way to go, Taiwan!”

A youth recruited while watching football. A Catholic school graduate. Girls desperate for cash and jobs. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency is using some unconventional accomplices to step up attacks beyond Somalia’s borders. January’s assault on an office and hotel complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, was the first to be led by a someone who is not an ethnic Somali since al Shabaab began major cross-border operations in 2010. Twenty-one people were killed.

The United Arab Emirates, though a prominent foe of Iran in the Middle East’s power struggles, has tempered its reaction to attacks on oil tankers off its coast in an effort to protect its reputation as a safe and stable business hub.

Business

Starbucks' China challenger Luckin raises $561 million in U.S. IPO

Luckin Coffee, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks, priced its U.S. initial public offering at the top end of its targeted range and sold more shares than planned in the biggest U.S. float by a Chinese firm this year.

3 min read

BP faces investor push to beef up fight against climate change

BP will face pressure at a meeting next week to set tougher targets to combat climate change, the latest signal from investors that they want the oil and gas industry to do more to clean up its act.

5 Min Read

Chinese firms' missing $6 billion tests regulators' resolve

Cash is considered among the hardest assets for a company to fake, which is why the disappearance of a combined $6.1 billion from two Chinese companies has dumbfounded investors and forced regulators to take action.

6 min read

Exclusive: FBI targets Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, GE, Philips in Brazil graft case - sources

The FBI is investigating corporate giants Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, General Electric and Philips for allegedly paying kickbacks as part of a scheme involving medical equipment sales in Brazil, two Brazilian investigators have told Reuters.

7 min read

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