Friday Morning Briefing: Bahamas hurricane survivors tell of children swept away

Highlights

Hurricane Dorian, downgraded to a Category 1 but still packing 90 mph winds, crawled north, skirting the Carolinas and flooding coastal towns a couple of days after it reduced parts of the Bahamas to rubble. Richard Johnson said his six-year-old brother Adrian was just too small to withstand Hurricane Dorian. The boy was blown into churning storm surge and is among thousands of people missing, many of them children, after the worst hurricane to hit the Bahamas.

Donald Trump is in a high-stakes balancing act between oil and corn ahead of his 2020 presidential bid. At a closed-door meeting at the White House on Aug. 19, Trump looked increasingly alarmed as his top envoy to China delivered evidence of rising Farm Belt frustration over his biofuel policy along with a stark warning: You’ve got a problem in Iowa.

Iran is "inching" toward a place where talks could be held, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. Days after U.S. President Trump left the door open to a possible meeting with Iranian President Rouhani at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in New York.

No convictions in California trial over 'Ghost Ship' warehouse fire. A California jury acquitted one of two men charged with manslaughter in an Oakland warehouse fire that killed 36 people in 2016 and failed to reach a verdict on similar charges against the second defendant.

World

Robert Mugabe, the former leader of Zimbabwe, has died. He was 95. Mugabe was feted as an African liberation hero when he first came to power in a divided nation. Nearly four decades later, many at home and abroad denounced him as a power-obsessed autocrat willing to unleash death squads, rig elections and trash the economy in the relentless pursuit of control.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said measures announced this week to help restore order in the city were a first step, and she disagreed with a credit downgrade by rating agency Fitch after months of sometimes violent protests. Hundreds of protesters gathered, as Hong Kong braces for weekend demonstrations aiming to disrupt transport links to the airport after Lam’s withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill failed to appease some activists.

Pakistan will make the fullest possible response to India’s actions in disputed Kashmir and the global community would be responsible for any “catastrophic” aftermath, the prime minister of the Muslim-majority nation Imran Khan said. The rhetoric on the annual Defence Day remembrance of Pakistan’s fighters in a 1965 war with India underscores rising tension between the nuclear-armed foes after New Delhi last month revoked the autonomy of its part of disputed Kashmir.

India is on track to become the first country to successfully conduct a soft-landing near the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander is expected to touch down on Saturday. After a week-long delay due to a technical snag in the launch vehicle system, India’s most powerful launch vehicle, sent the Chandrayaan-2 into space, kick-starting the spacecraft’s 48-day journey to the moon’s surface.

Reuters UK  @ReutersUK

UK PM Boris Johnson travels to Scotland, announcing an increase in funding for farming as he continues to promote higher public spending ahead of an expected election. https://reut.rs/2LxNu8E

6:32 AM - 6 Sep 2019

Business

Exclusive: U.S. congressional probe finds possible lapses in Deutsche Bank controls - sources

U.S. congressional investigators have identified possible failures in Deutsche Bank's money laundering controls in its dealings with Russian oligarchs, after the lender handed over a trove of transaction records, emails and other documents, three people familiar with the matter said.

6 min read

U.S. shale firms cut budgets, staff as oil-price outlook dims

Oil producers and their suppliers are cutting budgets, staffs and production goals amid a growing consensus of forecasts that oil and gas prices will stay low for several years. Bankruptcy filings by U.S. energy producers through mid-August this year have nearly matched the total for the whole of 2018. A stock index of oil and gas producers hit an all-time low in August, a sign investors are expecting more trouble ahead.

7 Min Read

China reserves cut extends risk rally before U.S. jobs data

Stimulus from China capped a strong week for global share markets, while bond buyers and dollar dealers were waiting for U.S. jobs data after their first significant selloffs in months. U.S. job growth likely slowed further in August, but the pace of gains probably remains sufficient to keep the economy expanding moderately amid rising threats from trade tensions and weakness overseas that have left financial markets fearing a recession.

11 min read

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