BitGou: Thursday Morning Briefing: Putin says U.S. guarantees unlikely to prompt North Korea to de-nuclearize

World

Kim seeks a friend in Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin said after holding talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he thought U.S. security guarantees would probably not be enough to persuade Pyongyang to shut its nuclear program. Putin, keen to use his summit with Kim to burnish Russia’s diplomatic credentials as a global player, said he believed any U.S. guarantees might need to be supported by the other nations involved in previous six-way talks on the nuclear issue.

Special Report: In the event of a confrontation in the seas off its coast, Chinese military brass say they now have the means with which to keep American carriers at bay. “We cannot defeat the United States at sea,” says a retired PLA colonel. “But we have missiles that specifically target aircraft carriers to stop them from approaching our territorial waters if there were conflict.”

Underscoring the nervous atmosphere in Sri Lanka, authorities locked down the central bank, and the road leading to the capital’s airport was shut briefly by a bomb scare as more people were swept up in the search for those behind Easter Sunday bombings that killed 359. As mourners buried the remains of Christian worshippers killed by the suicide bomb attacks, hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo on the country’s west coast where communal tensions have flared in recent days. Crammed into buses organized by community leaders and police, they left fearing for their safety after threats of revenge from locals.

U.S. criticizes Myanmar court decision on Reuters journalists. The United States criticized Myanmar after the country’s high court upheld the sentencing of two Reuters journalists, expressing deep concern about freedom of expression and urging that the two be reunited with their families.

After Tripoli assault, Libya's next battle could be over banks. Eastern Libya commander Khalifa Haftar has thrown much of his military forces into attacking Tripoli, but the outcome of the offensive could be determined by a separate battle — to keep open the parallel finance system that funds his soldiers. The general has funded his eastern state with a mix of unofficial bonds, Russia-printed cash and deposits from eastern banks, accumulating debt worth around 35 billion Libyan dinars ($25.18 billion) outside the official banking system.

Spain Election

The city crowd: young, urbane prime minister awaits Spain, whoever wins election. The main contenders in Sunday’s ballot offer a lack of diversity that has left parts of the electorate at risk of feeling unrepresented, political commentators say. Surveys show up to four in ten voters are still undecided and no single party is close to winning a majority. “We have ended up with something like a Corte Ingles catalogue,” said political communication consultant Luis Arroyo, referring to a famous Spanish chain of department stores.

Catalonia: the crisis at the heart of Spain's election. The northeastern region’s independence drive has been an agent of radical change. It was instrumental in triggering the election, has been a pivotal issue throughout campaigning and is expected to be crucial in determining the composition of the next government.

Politics

Biden enters 2020 presidential race. Former Vice President Joe Biden announced the third presidential bid of his career by video on YouTube and other social media. He is expected to make his first public appearance as a candidate on Monday at an event in Pittsburgh featuring union members, a key constituency. His candidacy will face numerous questions, including whether he is too old and too centrist for a Democratic Party yearning for fresh faces and increasingly propelled by its more vocal liberal wing.

Two years and 448 pages later, some Mueller fans ask: was he tough enough? Many left-leaning Americans regarded Special Counsel Robert Mueller as a paragon of courage and toughness, an unflinching prosecutor who would stop at nothing to ensure justice was served to President Donald Trump. A decorated Marine platoon commander in the Vietnam War, Mueller burnished his credentials by bringing charges against former Trump aides. Now, after reading the report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, some are asking whether the former FBI director was tough enough.

Trump immigration plan may increase visas for highly skilled workers, sources say. A merit-based immigration proposal being put together by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner could lead to an increase in U.S. visas for highly skilled workers, sources familiar with the effort said. The plan does not propose ways to address young people who came to the United States illegally as children who were protected by former President Barack Obama in the 2014 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or those people who have Temporary Protected Status, the sources said.

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