Bedugul Coffee: Monday Morning Briefing: China says will 'never surrender' as U.S. trade row heats up

Top News

China will never surrender to external pressure, the government said, though stopped short of announcing how Beijing will hit back after Washington renewed its threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports in an escalating trade dispute. Global equities fell on Monday after their worst week of 2019, as hopes of an imminent U.S.-China trade deal were crushed and neither side showed a willingness to budge, raising fears of a fresh round of tit-for-tat tariffs.

Saudi Arabia said that two Saudi oil tankers were attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, condemning it as an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions. The UAE said that four commercial vessels were sabotaged near Fujairah emirate, one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs lying just outside the Strait of Hormuz, but did not say who was behind the attack or describe the nature of it.

Sweden’s state prosecutor said she would reopen a rape investigation involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that circumstances now existed to seek his extradition from Britain. Assange was arrested in Britain last month after spending seven years inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London. The United States is also seeking his extradition on charges relating to the public release by Wikileaks of a huge cache of secret documents.

Sri Lanka temporarily blocked some social media networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp, after attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the worst unrest since Easter bombings by Islamist militants. “Social media blocked again as a temporary measure to maintain peace in the country,” Nalaka Kaluwewa, director general of the government information department, told Reuters.

'It's time to rise up,' Venezuelan general tells military officers in video. Ramon Rangel, who identified himself as an air force general, said the Venezuelan government is being controlled by the “communist dictatorship” in Cuba - a key ally of President Nicolas Maduro. While Rangel’s pronouncement marks another blow to Maduro after a handful of similar defections by senior officers this year, there is little to indicate that he will tip the scales.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives have fallen to fifth place in an opinion poll ahead of the May 23 European parliamentary election as pressure grows for her to set a date for her own departure. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party was in the lead, up four percentage points, on 34% while May’s Conservative Party had just 10%, the YouGov poll for the Times newspaper showed. The opposition Labour Party was down five points on 16%.

The European Union fully supports the international nuclear accord with Iran and wants rival powers to avoid any further escalation over the issue, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also expected to meet EU officials in Brussels on Monday to talk about Iran.

Business

Exclusive: Amazon.com is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders. The company started adding technology to a handful of warehouses in recent years, which scans goods coming down a conveyor belt and packages them seconds later in boxes custom-built for each item, two people who worked on the project told Reuters.

Exclusive: Bosch goes for platinum-light fuel cells. The global automotive supplier expects platinum to play only a minor role in its new fuel cells, giving precious metal markets scant benefit even as the technology gains momentum for pollution-free transport. According to Reuters calculations, Bosch would only need a tenth of the platinum used in current fuel cell vehicles.

Exclusive: Impossible Foods said it has raised $300 million in the latest round of funding ahead of a possible initial public offering. The company makes a meatless plant-based burger and is backed by celebrities like Serena Williams and Katy Perry. The fundraising underscores the growing appeal in plant-based food that tries to taste like meat with fewer environmental or health risks.

Australia’s export earnings are booming as resource prices surge but a statistical quirk means tens of billions of dollars go missing from main measures of growth, making the economy seem weaker than it actually is.

Bitcoin hovered above $7,000, close to nine-month highs, as the biggest cryptocurrency’s 2019 rally gathered steam. Bitcoin was last up 1.1% at $7,056 on the Bitstamp exchange after soaring 14% on Saturday - its second largest daily jump this year - to its highest since early August.

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