Friday Morning Briefing: Facebook suspends app pre-installs on Huawei phones

Highlights

Exclusive: Facebook suspends app pre-installs on Huawei phones. It's the latest blow for the Chinese tech giant as it struggles to keep its business afloat in the face of a U.S. ban on its purchase of American parts and software. Customers who already have Huawei phones will still be able to use its apps and receive updates, Facebook told Reuters.

Exclusive: U.S. will not accept more Turkish F-35 pilots over Russia defenses. The United States has decided to stop accepting any additional Turkish pilots who planned to come to the U.S. to train on F-35 fighter jets, a clear sign of the escalating dispute over Ankara’s plans to purchase Russian air defenses. The two NATO allies have sparred publicly for months over Turkey’s order for Russia’s S-400 air defense system, which Washington says poses a threat to the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters, which Turkey also plans to buy.

Mexican and U.S. officials held a second day of talks on trade and migration, with markets rebounding on optimism a deal could be close, although it was unclear if Mexican pledges to curb migration flows were enough to persuade the Trump administration to postpone tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that tariffs of 5% on all Mexican exports to the United States will go into effect on Monday if Mexico does not step up efforts to stem an increase in mostly Central American migrants heading for the U.S. border.

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who nearly won a U.S. Senate seat last year in the reliably conservative state, is struggling in his White House bid and has lost support from young voters and minorities, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos national poll. The poll shows support for O’Rourke among registered Democratic and independent voters slipped by 3 percentage points since May.

World

Three Chinese warships sailed out of Sydney on Friday after an unannounced visit that came amid a tussle for influence between Australia and China in the Pacific. The show-of-force call by a frigate, supply ship and amphibious warfare vessel was planned but never announced by Canberra.

Italy’s prime minister and economy minister have formed an unofficial alliance with the president to prevent the euro zone’s third-largest economy being dragged into financial crisis by its ruling parties, sources say. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Economy Minister Giovanni Tria, both technocrat appointees, have held private conversations with President Sergio Mattarella in recent days on ways of shielding Italy from a gathering political and financial storm.

New president of El Salvador wields his power via Twitter, firing officials. As Nayib Bukele waged an underdog bid for the presidency of El Salvador, savvy use of social media helped propel his rise. Now, in his first week in office, some officials in the Central American country are reeling from the power of the presidential tweet. The 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador has taken some of his first actions in office via Twitter, including giving officials the ax.

Judges at London’s High Court have thrown out an attempt to prosecute Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, for allegedly lying about Brexit during the 2016 EU referendum campaign. The case revolved around a claim famously emblazoned on Johnson’s “Leave” campaign bus that Britain would be £350 million a week better off outside the EU.

Business

Toyota speeds up electric vehicle schedule as demand heats up

Toyota aims to get half of its global sales from electrified vehicles by 2025, five years ahead of schedule, and will tap Chinese battery makers to meet the accelerated global shift to electricity-powered cars.

4 min read

Venezuelan cocoa piles up in New York as exporters scramble for cash

U.S. stockpiles of Venezuelan cocoa swelled in May to levels not seen in at least five years, a Reuters analysis showed. Exporting cocoa is a niche business in the crisis-hit country, but one that is currently not subject to U.S. sanctions. Venezuelan cocoa has historically demanded high price premiums due to its high quality. But now some exporters are willing to forego these premiums in favor of quick cash.

5 Min Read

Qatar Airways to seek compensation from Boeing over MAX grounding

Qatar Airways plans to seek compensation from Boeing over the grounding of three 737 MAX aircraft by Italian airline Air Italy, where the Qatari company is a major shareholder, group chief executive Akbar al-Baker told Reuters. Boeing MAX jets have been grounded worldwide and airlines are cancelling contracts following crashes in October and March that killed nearly 350 people.

3 min read

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