Impeachment articles unveiled
Democrats on Tuesday announced they will formally impeach president Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Guardian has five takeaways from the articles of impeachment. But The Atlantic is more interested in the charges that were not included in the impeachment articles. Greg Gutfield on Fox News says the charges are “so vague that they can mean anything – and nothing.” CNN says it has learned of a growing divide between Trump, who will become third US president to be impeached, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell over what that trial should look like. Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post reckons Trump’s re-election campaign will be strengthened by the impeachment process.
WTO body paraylsed
The World Trade Organisation will need months to get its appellate body functioning again after it ground to a halt for a lack of judges, the BBC reports. President Donald Trump has blocked the appointment of new judges because he argues the WTO treats the US unfairly. With two existing judges leaving their posts on Tuesday, the appellate body is basically paralysed, which the EU ambassador to the WTO says risks creating a system of economic relations based on power rather than rules, according to Reuters. An FT editorial argues that while there are “widely accepted faults in the settlement process”, global trade needs an independent referee like the WTO.
Tariffs delay speculation
The next round of American tariffs on Chinese imports due to come into force on Sunday could be delayed, The Wall Street Journal reports. US and Chinese negotiators “are laying the groundwork” to hold off on 15% tariffs on about $160 billion in Chinese goods. The South China Morning Post reckons that USMCA negotiations are “acting as a major distraction” to progress on China trade talks and that “there are no confirmed plans for the next round of ministerial level talks.”
Saudis bullish on Aramco IPO launch
Saudi sources are claiming that the value of Aramco, whose IPO launches today, is likely to be bid up to $2 trillion or more in the first days of trading, Fortune magazine reports. But that would require an 18% surge in the share price. Meanwhile, experts are saying they think it highly unlikely the domestic listing will be followed any time soon with an international IPO. Liam Denning writing in Economic Times says that “$2 trillion feels less like an actual dollar amount and more like a patriotic rallying cry.”
Saudi military pilots grounded
Reuters reports that the Pentagon is grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students as part of a “safety stand-down” following the killing of three US sailors at a base in Florida by a Saudi Air Force lieutenant. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said he was perplexed as to how 21-year-old Saudi national Mohammed Alshamrani could legally buy a gun, but CNN explains how it was possible. The Hill says that Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard criticised president Trump for not calling the shooting a terrorist attack or taking a stand against the Saudi kingdom.
Jersey City shootout
CBS New York reports that a police officer and three civilians, claimed by the Jewish Journal to have been members of the Jewish community, were killed by two gunmen – also killed by police – during an hours-long shootout with police in Jersey City that ended at a Kosher grocery on Tuesday.
Bougainville votes for independence
Almost 98% of voters in a referendum in the South Pacific islands of Bougainville have backed independence from Papua New Guinea, Reuters reports.
Ice sheet melting fast
Greenland’s ice sheet is melting seven times faster than it was in the 1990s according to a study by 96 polar scientists published on Tuesday in the journal Nature, The Guardian reports.
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts