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Frontrunning: August 22

  • Trump commits to a 'fight to win' in Afghan war (Reuters)
  • Stay or Go? Some Trump Aides Are Pressed From All Sides (WSJ)
  • Futures higher as traders pick up beaten-down stocks (Reuters)
  • Divers Search Compartments of Ship for Missing Sailors (WSJ)
  • Why Do U.S. Navy Ships Keep Colliding? (BBG)
  • North Korea Threatens ‘Absolute Force’ as U.S., South Hold Drills (WSJ)
  • The Unintended Consequences of Quantitative Easing (BBG)
  • Ross Levinsohn Named CEO, Publisher of Los Angeles Times (WSJ)
  • Big protests expected as Trump plans Phoenix rally (Reuters)
  • Millennial Americans Are Moving to the 'Burbs, Buying Big SUVs (BBG)
  • Identity Thieves Hijack Cellphone Accounts to Go After Virtual Currency (NYT)
  • BHP Flags Exit From Shale as Full-Year Profits Surge Five-Fold (BBG)
  • Elliott Notches Win as BHP Eyes Sale of U.S. Shale Assets (WSJ)
  • Oil prices steady ahead of U.S. stocks data (Reuters)
  • After U.S. destroyer collision, Chinese paper says U.S. navy a hazard (Reuters)
  • Macy’s Hires eBay Executive Amid Management Shakeup (WSJ)
  • China's 'big four' banks raise billions for Belt and Road deals (Reuters)
  • Famed Plaza Hotel Is On the Block (WSJ)
  • Trump’s team and lawmakers making strides on tax reform plan (Politico)
  • Booming Metals Rally Signals Optimism on Global Growth (WSJ)
  • Could Puerto Rico Be the Next Hot Tax Haven? (BBG)
  • Muslim divorce law 'unconstitutional', rules India's top court (Reuters)
  • South Korea, U.S. fail to reach agreement on possible revision to FTA deal (Reuters)
  • California Crackdown on Cars Reinforced by Road Emissions Uptick (BBG)

Overnight Media Digest:

WSJ

- President Donald Trump said he would expand the U.S. mission in Afghanistan but take a different approach from his predecessors by being tougher on Pakistan and refraining from telegraphing troop levels. on.wsj.com/2imqFJO

- The U.S. Navy announced an "operational pause" and has begun a broad investigation after the USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel, leaving 10 sailors missing, the second such incident in as many months. on.wsj.com/2im7vUB

- Tronc Inc is undergoing a broad management shake up at its flagship newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, bringing in internet and media industry veteran Ross Levinsohn as its new chief executive and publisher. on.wsj.com/2ill46q

- Activist investors scored a victory after BHP Billiton Ltd said it was looking to sell its onshore U.S. oil-and-gas operations. on.wsj.com/2illE46

- CNN is launching a daily news show for Snapchat called "The Update," the latest reflection of how media companies are stepping up their interest in the mobile messaging platform. on.wsj.com/2imJZXq

- Jeep, the crown jewel of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and a world-wide symbol of American military and manufacturing might, has an interested Chinese suitor, Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, the latest sign of an industry in the midst of a global reshuffling. on.wsj.com/2imTohs

 

NYT

- In a growing number of online attacks, hackers have been calling up Verizon Communications Inc, T-mobile US Inc , Sprint Corp and AT&T Inc and asking them to transfer control of a victim's phone number to a device under the control of the hackers. nyti.ms/2vYNZAr

- Tronc Inc, the parent company of The Los Angeles Times, abruptly replaced the newspaper's top leadership on Monday. Ross Levinsohn, a longtime media executive who held a senior position at Fox's digital group and was once considered a top candidate to lead Yahoo, was named publisher and chief executive of The Times. nyti.ms/2xn2jlZ

- A Los Angeles jury on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $417 million in damages to a medical receptionist who developed ovarian cancer after using the company's trademark Johnson's Baby Powder on her perineum for decades. nyti.ms/2vk41mu

- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which was conducting a scientific study of the public health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining said in a statement they were ordered to stop work because the Interior Department was conducting an agencywide budgetary review. nyti.ms/2x8iDrw

- Statements and evidence provided to German investigators by Zaccheo Giovanni Pamio, former head of thermodynamics in Audi's engine development department, suggest that knowledge of emissions fraud reached higher in the ranks of management than Volkswagen has admitted. No members of the company's management board have been charged, although investigations are continuing. nyti.ms/2wz8fuN

 

Britain

The Times

* The former chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group Plc and one of his top lieutenants are suing the bailed-out lender for hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid bonuses in a move that risks sparking public outrage. bit.ly/2g1MPAx

* Nicholas Macpherson, the former Treasury mandarin who oversaw the introduction of quantitative easing eight years ago, has compared money printing to "heroin" for policymakers and said it is "time to move on". bit.ly/2g0erFY

The Guardian

* Ford Motor Co has announced a car and van scrappage scheme allowing customers to trade in and scrap any brand of older vehicle for at least 2,000 pounds ($2,578.80) in a bid to get dirtier vehicles off the roads and boost its sales in UK's flagging car market. bit.ly/2g03eoP

* Activist group Avaaz has hired lawyers and launched the first steps of a judicial review against Ofcom following its report into the 11.7 billion pound bid by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-first Century Fox for the 61 percent of Sky Plc it does not already own. bit.ly/2fZmzGV

The Telegraph

* French supermajor Total SA has become the second largest North Sea operator at a stroke with a surprise $7.45 billion (5.79 billion pounds) deal swoop on Danish oil and gas firm Maersk Oil. bit.ly/2g094GU

* Britain is to keep all of Europe's business standards after Brexit by applying to remain a full member of Europe's three business standards agencies after March 2019, the head of the UK's official standards agency told the Telegraph. bit.ly/2g0v6cG

Sky News

* Theresa May is facing pressure to transform her approach to shaping Britain's post-Brexit trade links amid scepticism from business leaders about the scale and ambition of a forthcoming trip to Japan. bit.ly/2fZCLHS

* British wealth manager Rathbone Brothers has confirmed that it is in talks over a 2-billion-pound merger with UK-based financial services provider Smith & Williamson, in a bold move that would accelerate the consolidation of the w‎ealth management sector. bit.ly/2g0YejK