The Reuters Daily Briefing Friday, August 19, 2022

Reuters

The Reuters Daily Briefing

Friday, August 19, 2022

by Linda Noakes

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Here's what you need to know.

North Korea tells South Korea's president to 'shut his mouth', China sentences tycoon Xiao Jianhua to 13 years, and Ryan Cohen's Bed Bath u-turn triggers meme stock investor ire

Today's biggest stories

A Ukrainian service member near a frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dmytro Smolienko

WORLD

Explosions erupted overnight near military bases deep within Russian-held areas of Ukraine and in Russia itself, an apparent display of Kyiv's growing ability to wreak havoc on Moscow's logistics far from front lines. Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now.

China has issued its first national drought alert of the year as authorities battle forest fires and mobilize specialist teams to protect crops from scorching temperatures across the Yangtze river basin.

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said South Korea's president should "shut his mouth" after he reiterated that his country was willing to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament. It's the first time a senior North Korean official has commented directly on what President Yoon Suk-yeol has called an "audacious" plan.

Mexican officials called the 2014 disappearance of 43 students a state crime that was covered up by the government, in another damning assessment of the previous administration's actions regarding one of Mexico's worst human rights atrocities. This year will be the deadliest on record for journalists in Mexico, with 18 killed so far, human rights organization Article 19 said in a report.

Angolans head to the polls next week in what is likely to be a tense standoff between a ruling party in power for nearly five decades and an opposition with growing appeal to a frustrated, impoverished youth.

A truck with an American flag and a pro-Trump flag drives past the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello

U.S.

A U.S. judge said he is leaning toward releasing some of the evidence presented by the Justice Department to justify its search of Donald Trump's Florida home last week, in a case pitting news organizations against federal prosecutors. Half of Republicans say federal law enforcement officials behaved irresponsibly since searching Mar-a-Lago, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

A longtime senior executive at Trump's family business pleaded guilty to helping the company engineer a 15-year tax fraud, in an agreement that will require him to testify about its business practices at an upcoming trial. Allen Weisselberg, 75, the former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, entered his plea to all 15 charges he faced in a New York state court in Manhattan.

New U.S. Internal Revenue Service hires over the next decade will mainly replace retiring Baby Boomers, answer taxpayer questions and program new computers, Treasury officials and tax experts said, responding to Republican claims that the IRS will recruit 87,000 new agents to harass Americans on their taxes.

The man accused of stabbing novelist Salman Rushdie last week in western New York pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges and was held without bail.

Three men have been indicted on multiple felony charges in the 2018 prison beating death of James 'Whitey' Bulger, who lived a double life as one of Boston's most notorious mobsters and as a secret FBI informant before going on the run for 16 years.

BUSINESS

German producer prices jumped at the fastest pace on record in July, underscoring the gloomy outlook for Europe's largest economy, which is stuck in a stranglehold of soaring costs and weakening growth due to the Ukraine war. The German economy became more dependent on China in the first half of 2022, with direct investment and its trade deficit reaching new heights, according to research seen by Reuters.

London's transport network ground to a halt as train and bus workers held strikes over pay and conditions, the latest in a summer of labor market disputes as double-digit inflation eats into wages. Britain's financial watchdog has told firms offering 'buy now, pay later' loans to spell out the cost of late repayments to customers as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies.

Investors flooded social media platforms such as Reddit with criticism of Ryan Cohen's sale of his stake in Bed Bath & Beyond, blaming him for helping fuel a meme stock rally only to then walk away with a $60 million profit. The billionaire investor disclosed yesterday he had sold his 9.8% stake in the struggling home goods retailer.

A U.S. judge ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven employees at a Memphis, Tennessee, cafe who were allegedly fired for supporting a union organizing campaign, as the company seeks to halt pending nationwide union elections.

A Shanghai court sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, not seen in public since 2017, to 13 years in jail and fined his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate $8.1 billion, a record in China. Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings were charged with illegally siphoning away public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery.

BREAKINGVIEWS

Agenda-setting financial insight from the international commentary brand of Reuters

Read Una Galani on why America’s drive to speed up its energy transition is likely to throw other big carbon emitters off course, Gina Chon on a cryptocurrency turf war in Washington, and Jennifer Hughes on Japan’s sober youth giving its brewers a headache,

Quote of the day

“I did not change the direction with my own compass. The poles shifted themselves, turning me in another direction.”

Oleksandr Sinhayivskyy

An 18-year-old who will attend Georgetown University

From bomb shelter to dorm room: Ukrainian students find refuge at U.S. colleges

Video of the day

Annual World Robot Conference kicks off in Beijing

With a humanoid that can interpret facial expressions, robot dogs, and a Chinese-speaking Albert Einstein, China is showcasing its advanced robotic technology.

And finally…

'Spanish Stonehenge' emerges from drought-hit dam

A brutal summer has caused havoc for many in rural Spain, but one unexpected side-effect of the country's worst drought in decades has delighted archaeologists - the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle.

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