Weekend Papers Summary
* NYT (Saturday): The Trump administration began an urgent debate Friday over how to respond to what officials say has grown into a shadow war with Iran, which allegedly attacked oil tankers in the Persian Gulf—Trump said the U.S. would push back, but offered no details about how; related story says a president accusing another country of an act of war must overcome skepticism at home and abroad, which for Trump, known for falsehoods and bombast, will be a daunting task; For the third time, the World Health Organization declined to declare the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency, though the outbreak has moved into neighboring Uganda and ranks as the second deadliest in history; +/- GE, Siemens: A review of dozens of Chinese court cases, internal corporate documents, and interviews with company insiders sheds light on how foreign firms have become deeply enmeshed in the corruption pervading China’s health care industry, which often involves signing deals with contractors who pay bribes; European authorities say Russian groups waged disinformation campaigns designed to depress turnout and sway public opinion in last month’s European Union elections, and that many tech platforms remain vulnerable to meddling; A British court set February 2020 as the date for the full extradition hearing on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be sent to the U.S. to face a host of charges, including several under the Espionage Act; Every city, town, and county in the U.S. could receive a payout in a settlement with the largest makers, distributors and retailers of prescription opioids, if a judge approves an innovative proposal made in an Ohio federal court by lawyers for hundreds of local governments; (Sunday): The U.S. is increasing its digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to president Vladimir Putin, a sign the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively; On Saturday, Zuzana Caputova, a 45-year-old lawyer and political neophyte who has never held state office, became the first woman ever to be sworn in as president of Slovakia; A car bomb exploded on Saturday at a checkpoint near the Somali Parliament, killing at least eight people and injuring 16 others, while a separate blast from a roadside bomb in Mogadishu hit a police vehicle, killing several of the 11 officers inside; Priests in robes and hard hats held the first Mass at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris since the iconic structure was devastated by fire in April, leaving it in a fragile state, including a vault that has not been secured and could still collapse; Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, suspended an unpopular bill to allow extraditions to mainland China, and expressed hope the move would restore peace and order in the city after a string of major demonstrations
* WSJ (Weekend): Front page story reports that “Governments and tanker companies are stepping up efforts to protect shipping lanes after tankers were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than a third of the world’s seaborne oil is shipped”; In his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Tromp broke tradition with a chaotic and unscripted campaign, but for 2020 his re-election team is taking a more conventional approach involving branding and merchandising, direct marketing, and data mining; In passing a sweeping overhaul of rent laws that bring increased power to tenants, New York state lawmakers gave a boost to a movement among state capitals to try to address rental-housing affordability; American shoppers increased spending in May, providing a boost to the U.S. economy’s continued expansion despite trade tensions and slowing global growth; With its record $214.8B budget, California became the first state in the U.S. to expand government-subsidized health care for some adult immigrants living in the country illegally; Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa and other lawmakers plan to move forward on legislation to change laws that give the president wide authority to impose trade sanctions; Former vice president Joe Biden, senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris and mayor Pete Butigieg will share the stage on the second night of the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential primary debate, while the first night will feature senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar former Texas representative Beto O’Rourke; The U.S. and its NATO allies “flexed their muscles” along Russia’s western border this week with military exercises and a pledge of new troops that have deepened Moscow’s fears of U.S. intentions in the region; Russia’s central bank is the latest among emerging markets to cut interest rates as expectations of easier money in the U.S. gives developing markets the room to stimulate their economies; The technology that underpins the development of self-driving vehicles is making human-driven cars safer at a rate that completely autonomous vehicles may have trouble matching; + FB: Social site plans to more than double its global advertising spending as it aims to rebuild trust after a series of privacy missteps and other controversies dented its reputation; +/- SNE: The latest push by activist investor Daniel Loeb to break up the company poses a dilemma for chief Kenichiro Yoshida, who is generally sympathetic to Wall Street’s thinking but wants to keep his conglomerate intact; +/- Hudson’s Bay: A move to take the company private doesn’t change the fact that holdings like department stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor have been losing share for years to discount chains, e-commerce companies, and other upstarts; High-speed trading firms Citadel Securities, GTS Securities, and the U.S. arm of Amsterdam-based IMC said in a joint court filing that the SEC’s plan, called the Transaction Fee Pilot, was an “ill-conceived” program that would harm investors; H.O.T.S.: Tech venture-capital funds are pouring money into innovative kitchen and bathroom brands like Brandless and Charlotte Tilbury, but rapid growth doesn’t always translate well to consumer products; “Companies fear a trade war and recession, but they can’t easily cut back on hiring with domestic demand strong”; In his push to split up SNE, Dan Loeb “may not get everything he wants, but he probably won’t come away empty-handed either.
* FT (Weekend): Europe and Russia yesterday urged caution over the explosions on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman as Donald Trump accused Iran of attacking the vessels, heightening tensions between and Washington and Tehran; European Union finance ministers agreed to small steps towards creating a Eurozone budget after marathon talks failed to settle a longstanding Franco-Dutch dispute over how it should be funded; Big Read piece says “Fears that the U.S.–China trade war will cause a slowdown have forced the Fed to think about cutting rates again, but the central bank also worries that such a move would be seen as caving in to the White House”; Lex Column: Bayer’s admission that it needs alternatives to Roundup, a core product, is a tacit acknowledgment it acted rashly in its Monsanto deal; CHWY’s public shareholders may grow uneasy with its business model before PetSmart can fully monetize its investment; Demand has been weak for Hong Kong-listed stocks, a potentially ominous sign; Comment: Hong Kong is in danger of being hollowed out again, says Michael Schuman, because if Beijing damages business confidence in the rule of law, the territory becomes just another Chinese city.
* NY POST (Saturday): + SNAP: Company’s future looks more global than it current dominance among U.S. teens and early 20-somethings might suggest, and it is seeing greater user activity in countries such as Saudi Arabia and India; (Sunday): New York state, which is usually top of list when it comes to taxing things, has some of the lowest beer taxes in the nation, as do several neighboring states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to a report from the Tax Foundation.