Hill in her testimony said that former national security advisor John Bolton was disturbed by Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s involvement in the conversations with Ukraine. Trump instructed a small group of people — special enjoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Sondland — to collaborate with Giuliani. “Rudy Giuliani is a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up,” Hill said Bolton told her. Hill left the NSC before the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukra

Xerox’s board of directors threatened to go to HP’s shareholders if the company does not reconsider its acquisition bid, Xerox said in a letter to HP directors Thursday. Shares of HP and Xerox were up about half a percent during morning trading. HP’s board said Sunday that it unanimously rejected Xerox’s bid to buy the company, arguing the offer undervalued HP and was not in the best interest of shareholders. The Xerox Board of Directors is determined to expeditiously pursue our proposed acquisi

Amazon Dash Smart ShelfAmazon on Thursday announced the Amazon Dash Smart Shelf, a new scale that doubles as a shelf for office supplies. When the weight drops, it can recognize you’re running low and automatically reorder supplies from Amazon. Amazon has since discontinued the buttons, but the idea morphed into the Amazon Dash Replenishment Service built-in to some appliances. A printer, for example, might know that you’re running low on ink and automatically order you new cartridges before you

‘Plenty more upside’ for the British pound, says strategistThe pound sterling could hit 1.35 against the U.S. dollar assuming the Conservative Party forms a majority in parliament and pass the Brexit legislation after the elections, says Joseph Capurso of Commonwealth Bank.

Online classifieds business Carousell said it has agreed to merge with a subsidiary of Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor Group, valuing the combined company at more than $850 million. Carousell will merge with Telenor’s 701Search, which owns online marketplaces Mudah in Malaysia, Cho Tot in Vietnam, and OneKyat in Myanmar, as part of the equity and cash agreement, it said in a statement on Thursday. Telenor will become the single-largest minority shareholder in Carousell with a 32% stake in the co

Economic growth in China is slowing down amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S. — but Swiss wealth management giant UBS is not budging from its “overweight” position in Chinese stocks. Chinese gross domestic product grew 6% year-over-year in the third quarter, the weakest pace in at least 27.5 years. UBS forecast that growth in the world’s second-largest economy will end this year at 6.1% before slowing even more in the coming years to 5.7% in 2020 and 5.6% in 2021. She explained that economic

Protesters build a wall to block a road at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong on November 14, 2019. U.S.-China relations will worsen if President Donald Trump signs a pro-Hong Kong rights bill into law, a former American ambassador to China said on Thursday. Baucus’ comments came after the House passed a pro-Hong Kong rights bill on Wednesday, putting Trump in a bind as he tries not to roil high-stakes trade talks with China. (There’s a) wonderful top line vision to it: standards

Guests arrive at the presentation of the candidacies for the 2020 World Expo, at the OECD headquarters on November 27, 2013 in Paris, France. The world economy is projected to grow by a decade-low 2.9% this year and next, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its Economic Outlook, trimming its 2020 forecast from an estimate of 3.0% in September. Without clear policy direction on these issues, “uncertainty will continue to loom high, damaging growth prospects,” she add

As relations between the U.S. and China continue to deteriorate, one immediate risk is a “military accident or operational miscalculation” between the armed forces of both countries, said former U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry. “Do I worry about the risks that we have with the increasing geopolitical competition with China? There have been several near military confrontations between the two nations, Eikenberry told CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah at the Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit in Singapore.

Moody’s has downgraded its outlook for German banks to “negative” from “stable” as profitability and overall creditworthiness weaken in a low interest rate environment. In a report published Thursday, the ratings giant said the already weak profitability of German banks will decline further over the next 12 to 18 months as net interest income falls. “Traditional commercial banks and in particular deposit-funded institutions will struggle to out-earn their costs in the continuing low interest rat

An unknown number of British Airways flights have been delayed in what the airline has blamed on a “technical issue.” The social media team of the airline took to Twitter late Wednesday in an attempt to reassure passengers that steps were being taken to accommodate passengers affected by delays and cancellations. On its website, British Airways also warned passengers that while it still planned to operate a full schedule on Thursday “there may be some knock-on delays to flights.” Shares in Briti

Beijing sweetened the deal by committing to fund 100 vehicles for the Ghana Police Service and offered a 300 million yuan ($42.7 million) grant and a debt write off of 250 million yuan. China has a similar arrangement in place with Guinea, exchanging $20 billion in loans across the next two decades for access to bauxite ore. He also announced plans to raise $3 billion in international debt markets. It anticipates that much of the $3 billion debt raising will go towards public sector pay increase

A long-time aide to former President Barack Obama has urged Republicans in the U.S. Senate to “remember their oath of office” as they prepare to hear the final House impeachment hearing of the week on Thursday. A Democratic-led inquiry is trying to determine whether President Donald Trump improperly put pressure on Ukraine to force the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, delivered testimony that stunned both Republicans and D

Gao also said “external rumors” about the trade talks are not accurate, and noted the two trade delegations remain in close communication. BEIJING — Expectations are rising for a first-stage trade agreement between China and the U.S., despite no clarity on when leaders of the two countries can meet to seal a deal. Separately on Thursday, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that China’s lead trade negotiator Liu He said at a dinner speech Wednesday that he was cautiously optimistic about

European stocks traded lower Thursday as relations between China and the U.S. come under strain over Hong Kong, amid concerns that “phase one” of a trade deal between the two powerhouses may be pushed into 2020. The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7% in early trade, with basic resources falling 1.4% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses entered the red. Both chambers of U.S. Congress passed a bill supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters on Wednesday, placing President Donald Tru

Markets point to a lower open on uncertainty surrounding US-China trade56 Mins AgoU.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Thursday morning, as fears over trade threaten to impact stocks. CNBC’s Frank Holland reports.

ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note , which moves inversely to price, was lower at around 1.7363%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also lower at around 2.1999%. U.S. and Chinese officials had raised prospects of signing a phase one trade deal in a few weeks’ time, but the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing former Trump administration officials, that ongoing U.S.-China trade talks could hit an impasse. Meanwhile, Reuters, which cited trade experts and

An anticipated “phase one” trade deal between the U.S. and China will likely be inked, but the subsequent stages “remain distant,” according to one strategist at Morgan Stanley. “Our base case is that the phase one trade deal gets done and that might be about as good as it gets, that phase two and phase three remain distant next year,” Andrew Sheets, chief cross-asset strategist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC at the Morgan Stanley APAC Summit on Thursday. The trade dispute between the world’s two

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire voiced his appreciation that ultra-dovish views, like those expressed by President Donald Trump, weren’t currently being represented on the board of the European Central Bank (ECB). “We are actively competing with nations who openly cut interest rates so that now many are actually getting paid when they pay off their loan, known as negative interest,” Trump said earlier this month. The 19-member euro zone is divided over the application of negative interest

There’s huge potential in autonomous driving — even if it’s not likely to become a widespread reality for years to come, according to an executive of Chinese venture capital fund Fosun RZ Capital. “For autonomous driving to come true for all scenarios, all conditions, it will be difficult — maybe 5 to 10 years,” Liu told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa. But she said the industry had “big potential,” with companies like Alphabet’s self-driving car company Waymo already able to provide such services from poin