Special Counsel Robert Mueller has filed his witness list, which includes 35 individuals who could testify against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in his upcoming trial.
Flashback: Earlier this week, a federal judge approved Mueller’s request that five witnesses be granted immunity in exchange for testifying against Manafort. The five witnesses — Donna Duggan, James Brennan, Conor O’Brien, Cindy Laporta, and Dennis Raico — all have been linked with Manafort’s finances, according to NBC News.
In Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s congressional testimony on Wednesday, he was asked when we would know if North Korea would choose to follow through on its pledge of complete denuclearization. “I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that” was his stark response.
Why it matters: After his summit with Kim Jong-un, President Trump said on Twitter that “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” In breaking from his boss on this critical point, Mike Pompeo made clear that, more than two months after the summit, no concrete steps have been taken to address North Korea’s nuclear threat, making the administration's transparency on the negotiations all the more crucial.
The South China Morning Post examines Beijing's misreading of President Trump, where they look at "how Beijing got it wrong."
My thought bubble: I had many conversations with Chinese interlocutors who really did not understand how the attitude towards China in D.C. and the U.S. business community had hardened so much. An earlier realization may not have altered the outcome much given the structural problems in the relationship, but when the stakes are so high, ignorance and surprise can be very dangerous.
2018 is the 40th anniversary of the launch of China's reform and opening policy. Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party are making a very big deal of the anniversary.
What we're hearing: I spoke with Julian Gewirtz, an expert in modern Chinese history and author of a book on China called "Unlikely Partners," on the current state of China's market and Xi's plan for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Major General Qassem Soleimani, Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, issued a forceful response to President Trump’s recent tweet addressed to Iranian President Rouhani, the latest in a round of escalating rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran invoking war. “Gambler Trump! I alone will stand against you,” he touted. “You may begin a war, but it is us who will end it.”
The big picture: An ongoing challenge for Iranian security planners has been how to signal resolve without inviting military ruin. Gradual escalation against U.S. and allied interests as well as rhetorical bluster are therefore favorites of decision-makers in Tehran. What role misperception, miscalculation, ideological zeal and actual military action may play remains to be seen.
Private equity firm Hillhouse Capital is in early talks to lead a takeover offer for Yum China, a New York-listed company that is the exclusive operator of KFC and Pizza Hut stores in mainland China, according to The Information.
Why it's a big deal: Yum China is the country's largest fast-food purveyor, with over 8,000 stores.
After touting his economic accomplishments Friday morning, President Trump thanked Kim Jong-un for "keeping his word" in starting to return remains of missing U.S. soldiers from the Korean war.
"I want to thank him for fulfilling a promise he made to me and I’m sure he will continue to fulfill that promise."
Why it matters: Trump is yet again going out of his way to publicly acknowledge and thank a dictator whose country has long been threatening toward the U.S.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited President Trump to Moscow, Reuters reports, adding that while he and Trump are ready to pick up where they left off in Helsinki, the conditions must be right for a meeting to take place.
Trump said on Friday he is "open to visiting Moscow," the Associated Press reports, after he receives a "formal invitation" from Putin.
American companies eager to enter China’s massive market brace themselves for potential intellectual property theft or forced technology transfers. But there’s another threat at play: their technology is being used for surveillance.
The big picture: China has sophisticated systems of state surveillance, and elements of these systems have long been powered by technologies developed by American companies. Beijing has used U.S. tech to surveil its citizens, violate human rights and even modernize its military.
The U.S. is pressing Israel to implement a deal is has signed several years ago with Jordan for building the Red-Dead joint project — a pipeline that connects the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, Israeli and U.S. officials tell me.
Why it matters: The project, which is set to be built in Jordanian territory, is the biggest and most strategically important infrastructure project in Jordan to date and is one of the main areas of cooperation between Israel and Jordan. The projects includes water desalinization, energy and tourism facilities. Two key goals are to save the Dead Sea, which is gradually shrinking, and cement the Israeli-Jordanian relationship for generations to come. The U.S. is a central partner in the project and is also supposed to provide $100 million in funding.
This spring, President Trump signaled a potential desire to replace the agreement, calling on Twitter for the “KOREAN WAR TO END!” and promising a "peace regime" with Kim Jong-un in Singapore. Meanwhile, the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War — a truce, not a peace treaty — endures, reaching its 65th anniversary on Friday.
The big picture: History is littered with peace proclamations that North Korea signed and then ignored. While Pyongyang has repeatedly renounced the Armistice, and both sides have violated it on occasion, it’s the one deal with North Korea that has stood the test of time.
Newly excavated 174-million-year-old fossils in northwest China are a new dinosaur species named Lingwulong shenqi — or "amazing dragon of Lingwu" — that roamed the supercontinent of Pangea, a new study found.
The big picture: The study, published this week in Nature Communications, details the oldest diplodocoid — massive sauropod dinosaurs with long necks and tails — ever found. It also pushes back estimates of their evolution by 15 million years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to organize a summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow because he didn't want to undercut President Trump's forthcoming Middle East peace plan, according to Israeli officials.
Why it matters: Netanyahu and Abbas haven't met since September 2010. This is the second time Netanyahu has rejected such a proposal from Putin, after another offer in September 2016. Putin's new attempt to inject himself into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is a challenge to the Trump administration, which has been working on a peace plan for the last 18 months. The White House "peace team," which is being boycotted by the Palestinian leadership, still hasn't decided if and when to launch its proposal.
Chinese leaders are pleased President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reached a deal to avoid a deeper trade war, at least for now, but say no progress has been made for a similar U.S.-China deal, Caixin Global reports.
What they're saying: “It is certainly a good thing to not fight a trade war, not only for the U.S. and Europe, but also for the whole world,” Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Gao Feng said today. “We will keep an eye on whether the two sides’ joint statement can get implemented.” Gao added that in order to begin talks with the U.S. to resolve the trade standoff, China would need "an assurance that the other side will keep its promises — a reference to Washington’s levying of protective tariffs last month after previously promising not to do so," per Caixin's report.
A 26-year-old man detonated a small explosive device outside of the U.S. embassy in Beijing on Thursday, injuring himself but causing no further damage or loss of life.
Why it matters: Security incidents are considered extremely rare in the Chinese capital — where protests are tightly controlled — and all references to the explosion were censored from social media platforms WeChat and Weibo within hours, according to CNN.
