Wednesday's world stories

China is 2/3 of global "on-demand" transport market
Here's why Uber sunk more than $2 billion into its Chinese operations (before selling to its competitor): China alone represents 67% of the global on-demand transportation market, including bikes and cars, according to Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker's latest Internet Trends Report.
- The data: Based on 2017's first quarter data estimates, China generated a total of about 2.5 billion on-demand rides, or roughly 10 billion rides on an annualized basis.
- Why it matters: China's importance as a large market for on-demand transportation has been obvious for a long time. Along with Uber's massive investment in the region before selling its local operations to Didi Chuxing last summer, the latter recently raised a nearly $6 billion round, putting its value at about $50 billion. It also explains the recent investment boom into bike-sharing and on-demand bike ride companies in China.
- Handy summary of the rest of the report.

One arrested, two missing amid probe of Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes
New York-based watchdog China Labor Watch says a man named Hua Haifeng, who had been investigating working conditions in a factory that produces shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand, has been arrested for conducting illegal surveillance. The organization says two other men who were investigating the working conditions, Li Zhao and Su Heng, are missing, per the AP.

Trump's personal attorney drawn into Russia probe
Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen is now a focus of Congress' Russia investigation, per ABC News.
- What went down: The House and Senate both asked Cohen "to provide information and testimony" about his Russia contacts, but he shot down their invitation as overly broad. In response, the Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously voted last week to grant its chair, Sen. Richard Burr, and its ranking member, Sen. Mark Warner, the ability to issue subpoenas.
- Cohen called it a "total fishing expedition" to CNN: "I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered..."
- Flashback: Cohen last found himself at the center of a media firestorm earlier this year when he played a substantial part in the still-unverified Steele dossier on Trump's Russia connections, which alleged that he took a trip to Prague to meet with Russian officials.
Update: The Senate Intel committee also wants to hear from Boris Epshteyn, a senior adviser to Trump's campaign, per CBS News.

U.S. intercepts mock warhead in signal to North Korea
The U.S. intercepted a mock warhead Tuesday over the Pacific in a demonstration of the U.S. missile defense program, per the AP. The mock warhead was launched from a Pacific atoll, and the interceptor rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Why it matters: It's the first interception of an intercontinental range missile like the one North Korea is developing. Plus, it signals the Pentagon has fixed a system that worked in fewer than half of its previous nine tests.
What's next:
- The Pentagon will be increasing the number of deployed interceptors in California and Alaska from 36 to 44 by the end of this year, with congressional support.
- This comes the same day that the Missile Defense Agency announced it is ramping up its development of the Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV), an interceptor that can block several incoming warheads. This is key since it can block a warhead and several decoy warheads all at once, which is a capability North Korea is likely developing to be able to obfuscate which nuke is the real threat, per Defense One.

Spicer brushes aside Kushner question in post-trip briefing
Sean Spicer was back behind the podium — which some predicted might not happen — after Trump's first foreign trip. But the questions quickly turned to focus on a country that Trump didn't visit: Russia.
The elephant in the briefing room: Spicer said that Jared Kushner's alleged outreach to the Russians to set up a backchannel was "not a confirmed action" and cited statements from Homeland Security head John Kelly and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster brushing aside concern. He added, "Mr. Kushner's attorney has said that Mr. Kushner has volunteered to share what he knows with Congress."




