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Frontrunning: May 1

  • Congress Inks Spending Deal That Jettisons Trump Priorities (BBG)
  • Trump Pushes for Vote on Health Bill but Hurdles Remain (WSJ)
  • Apple’s Cash Hoard Set to Top $250 Billion (WSJ)
  • Hamas to soften stance on Israel, Muslim Brotherhood in policy document (Reuters)
  • UPS Tries a New Twist on Surge Pricing (WSJ)
  • How Does Trump’s Tax Plan Help the Middle Class? ‘Honestly, We Don’t Know’ (BBG)
  • French voters skeptical Macron, Le Pen have answers on key issues (Reuters)
  • Trump Leaves Open Possibility of Military Action Against North Korea (WSJ)
  • U.S.-backed militias oust Islamic State from Syria's Tabqa old city (Reuters)
  • Puerto Rico Bondholders Reject Island's Restructuring Offer (BBG)
  • Hackers Ran Through Holes in Swift’s Network (WSJ)
  • Buffett's $86 Billion Cash Pile Has Some Dreaming of a Huge Deal (BBG)
  • Twitter Teams Up With Bloomberg for Streaming News (WSJ)
  • Oil's Big American Glut Is Resting Elsewhere (BBG)
  • Markdowns in Manhattan, While Costs Grow in Brooklyn (BBG)
  • China Crackdown to Be Intensified After Xi Meeting, Nomura Says (BBG)
  • U.S. Tech's Giant Money Machine Is On Full Display This Week (BBG)
  • Wall Street Wellness Programs Are Being Used to Drive Sales (BBG)
  • Bond Traders' Inflation Bets Have New Life, Just in Time for Fed (BBG)
  • At least 27 hurt in turbulence on Aeroflot Moscow-Bangkok flight (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

- President Donald Trump left open the possibility of military action against North Korea, adding that he wouldn’t be happy if Pyongyang conducts another missile test. on.wsj.com/2pwGL3B

- U.S. President Donald Trump invited President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to the White House during a telephone call over the weekend, laying the groundwork for a first meeting after the maverick Filipino leader last year declared his "separation" from the U.S., a longstanding ally. on.wsj.com/2pOcL5Y

- China’s sharp rise in air travel is compounding chronic flight delays here, making flying an ordeal for increasing numbers of airline passengers and threatening to choke growth in the country’s booming aviation sector. on.wsj.com/2oP6hEb

- The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has left banks largely responsible for their own cyberdefense. In the past year, a spate of cyberattacks has penetrated banks along Swift’s less-defended perimeter, shaking confidence in the network used by banks for cross-border transactions. on.wsj.com/2oOM6Gg

- Nintendo Co said it used aircraft to ship its new Switch videogame machine in its first month on the market, an unusual and costly logistics measure responding to unexpectedly high demand. on.wsj.com/2oP64ki

 

FT

Twenty-First Century Fox is in talks with Blackstone Group to launch a joint bid for U.S. broadcaster Tribune Media Co, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the FIFA Council member who also runs the Olympic Council of Asia, said on Sunday he was resigning all his posts in football after being drawn into the latest bribery scandal to hit the game's governing body.

Financial Conduct Authority has hired Vincent Coughlin as its chief criminal counsel, taking over from Claire Lipworth, who has joined law firm Hogan Lovells.

 

NYT

- Twenty-first Century Fox Inc is in talks with Blackstone Group LP, the giant investment firm, to make an offer for Tribune Media and its stable of television stations, people briefed on the negotiations said on Sunday night, a move that would potentially forestall a rival bid for Tribune. nyti.ms/2oOfAUO

- Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan agreement on Sunday to fund the government through September, according to aides from both parties, effectively ending any suspense about the possibility of a government shutdown next weekend. nyti.ms/2oO7gEv

- During their "very friendly conversation", the administration said in a late-night statement, Mr. Trump invited Mr. Duterte, an authoritarian leader accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines, to visit him at the White House. nyti.ms/2oO4r6s

- Starting on Sept 9, NBCUniversal will turn one of its smallest cable properties, Sprout, into a network called Universal Kids, said Deirdre Brennan, who will oversee the effort. nyti.ms/2oNQW6O

- The Turkish government expanded its crackdown on dissent and free expression over the weekend, purging nearly 4,000 more public officials, blocking access to Wikipedia and banning television matchmaking shows. nyti.ms/2oNXrXb

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Purdue Pharma has finally agreed to settle a long-standing class-action lawsuit, which began a decade ago between the maker of OxyContin and lawyers representing as many as 2,000 Canadians who got hooked on the drug after their doctors prescribed it. tgam.ca/2pxmUB9

** The federal government, owner of Ridley Terminals Inc on British Columbia's north coast, has been placed in a difficult position by British Columbia Premier Christy Clark's request to ban thermal coal exports from the province. tgam.ca/2px64lW

** The widening divergence between Internet regulations in Canada and the United States may threaten investment in Canadian innovation, warns Roslyn Layton, one of U.S. President Donald Trump's telecommunications advisers. tgam.ca/2px6HvO

NATIONAL POST

** Defense minister Harjit Sajjan will get a chance Monday to explain to Parliament why he tried to deceive an audience of Indian security experts by claiming that he was "the architect" of Canada's biggest military operation in Afghanistan. bit.ly/2pxf36H

 

Britain

The Times

Former Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Ralph Robins is understood to have drafted in lawyers as prosecutors consider bringing charges against individuals linked to the FTSE 100 aerospace company's corruption scandal. bit.ly/2pxPrIU

The Guardian

Coffee company Nespresso – part of Swiss multinational Nestle – is to trial a scheme for consumers to recycle their used aluminium capsules for the first time in the UK, in the face of a growing environmental backlash against increasingly popular single-serve pods, many of which end up in landfill. bit.ly/2qrT7Jr

Supermarket "best before" labels could be phased out while shops should be forced to sell oddly shaped vegetables under proposals from MPs who have warned the government it needs to do more to tackle food waste. bit.ly/2pkPAz5

The Telegraph

Unilever's 6 billion pounds sale of its margarine business has run into opposition from the consumer goods giant's influential European works council, which has raised concerns about possible job losses from any deal. bit.ly/2oVMPAQ

Rolls-Royce's plan to boost bosses' bonuses to attract and keep hold of the top staff it says it needs to oversee its turnaround could be the latest focus of shareholder anger over executive pay. bit.ly/2pvkGCl

There are fresh fears for the British high street as concerns mount that prospective new owners of the Coast, Oasis and Warehouse chains will shut a raft of stores in an attempt to improve the fortunes of the brands. bit.ly/2oN6LdW

Sky News

Two Scottish fund management giants plotting a near-£11bn merger are to hand tens of millions of pounds in retention bonuses to star executives to prevent them quitting during the deal. ‎Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Standard Life Plc have agreed to pay roughly 35 million pounds to a cluster of executives who manage huge amounts of client money. bit.ly/2oMGrAp

The Government is to take another step towards recouping the vast sums of money injected into the banking system in 2008 by selling 3 billion pounds of Bradford & Bingley (B&B) mortgage loans. bit.ly/2pxXUvF