Highlights

Financial lobbyists in Washington are strategizing on how to handle Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Democratic Socialist and Wall Street critic joined the House Financial Services Committee in mid-January and more than a dozen lobbyists interviewed by Reuters say the 29-year-old is too high-profile to ignore. Central to her campaign has been the rejection of corporate campaign dollars, closing off an avenue for industry influence on Capitol Hill. Now, lobbyists fear that her enlarged platform will help push her ideas into the mainstream and are trying to figure out how best to respond. Speaking to Reuters, Ocasio-Cortez said the appointment of progressives like her to the panel “sends a very powerful message” to the financial industry.

Exporters have found a way to make the transfer of ethanol from the U.S. to China profitable, despite trade tariffs. Although China slapped retaliatory tariffs up to 70 percent on U.S. ethanol shipments, the fuel can still legally enter tariff-free if it arrives blended with at least 40 percent Asian-produced fuel. According to shipping data analysed by Reuters, ships carrying U.S. ethanol stop in Malaysia to meet the quota before entering China. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing next week for more trade talks.

Deepening political crisis in Virginia is threatening the Democrat’s hold on governorship. Governor Ralph Northam, a former U.S. Army physician who took office a year ago, has been fighting for his political life after a racist photo from his medical school yearbook page was made public last Friday. But the upheaval has deepened: the attorney general, Mark Herring, has admitted to wearing blackface at a college party and the lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, has been accused of sexual assault. Fairfax and Herring are first and second in line to succeed Northam as governor should he resign. Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, is third.

U.S. border officials don’t share President Trump’s zeal for a border wall, say lawmakers who attended a classified briefing by Customs and Border Protection agents. Officials have described a multi-pronged strategy for tightening the southern border with Mexico that did not focus mainly on a massive wall. “What they said over again was technology,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said. “They don’t rule out barriers, they don’t rule out fences. But that isn’t the first priority.”

Russia says it would be prepared to consider new proposals to replace a suspended Cold War-era nuclear pact. Russia suspended the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty at the weekend after Washington announced it would withdraw in six months unless Russia ends what it says are violations of the pact. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says they would consider a broader treaty that includes more countries.

World

What is at stake in Nigeria’s election? Citizens of Africa’s largest democracy will take to the polls on February 16 to choose between two presidential candidates: Current president Muhammadu Buhari or former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Despite the country having a median age of 18, both are over 70 years old, causing many youths to say the aging leaders are out of touch. Ideologically the two main parties do not have clear differences. Competition for control of national oil revenues by elites, patronage and complex rivalries between ethnic groups have played a much bigger role in elections than ideology.

Indonesian police found 193 Bangladeshis locked up in a shop house after human traffickers had lured them with the promise of getting them to Malaysia, an immigration official has said. The men, who were described as in a healthy condition when they were found on Tuesday night, had been taken to an immigration detention center and would be sent back to Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Theresa May is in Brussels to plead with EU leaders to change the Brexit divorce deal. European officials have offered little hope they were willing to do so, with European Council President Donald Tusk channeling his frustration with unusually strong words, saying he wondered what “that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted Brexit.” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn set out five conditions for Labour to support a deal, including a “permanent and comprehensive” customs union with the bloc, which May has ruled out. A government source said a breakthrough is not expected.

A large number of prisoners in Iran will be pardoned in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on his Twitter account. The number of prisoners that will be pardoned was not announced, but Iranian media said around 50,000 prisoners will enjoy “the Islamic clemency”.

.@Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been imprisoned in Myanmar for 423 days. Follow updates on the case: https://reut.rs/2DeAoJr

7:02 AM - 7 Feb 2019