Friday Morning Briefing: I vanka and the super salesm an on Donald Trump’s first overseas property venture

Men feed seagulls along the Yamuna river on a smoggy morning in New Delhi, India, November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Saumya Khandelwal

A Russian criminal, a Colombian cartel and property in Panama with Trump’s name on it. Zimbabwe's Mugabe appears in public while party leaders plan to fire him. Tesla's little red Roadster steals the show.

World

Exclusive: How an alleged fraudster in Panama, working with Donald Trump's daughter, helped make Trump's first international hotel venture a success. The broker was in business with a money-launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union. Then he fled. Read the Special Report.

Panama struggles to escape its reputation as a haven for fraud.

Saudi authorities are striking agreements with some of those detained in an anti-corruption crackdown, asking them to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom, sources familiar with the matter say.

Salvatore “Toto” Riina, the Sicilian Mafia’s most powerful boss of the 20th century who was convicted for ordering dozens of murders, died of natural causes early on Friday after almost a quarter of a century in jail.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe appeared in public for the first time since the army took charge this week, as the ruling party made plans to force him to step down after more than three decades in power.

Reuters TV: ZANU-PF leaders say they plan to fire Mugabe.

Commentary

The military takeover in Zimbabwe may mark the start of a new chapter in China’s involvement in Africa, writes Peter Apps. While nobody is saying whether Beijing was told in advance about the army's plans to oust Robert Mugabe, a statement by the Chinese Defense Ministry about a visit by Zimbabwe's top military commander suggests Chinese authorities were broadly supportive of the operation. "It’s still unclear who will end up running Zimbabwe," says Apps. "But whoever prevails will need the backing of both the army as well as China, Zimbabwe’s primary foreign investor.”

Bitcoin hit an all-time high just below $8,000 on Friday, on talk that a software upgrade whose suspension sent the cryptocurrency into a tailspin at the end of last week was, after all, going ahead within hours.

Follow the future of money - all the latest news and analysis around cryptocurrencies and more with Reuters Fintech.

Tesla upstaged its own debut of an electric heavy duty truck on Thursday when a red Roadster pulled out of the big rig’s trailer and Chief Executive Elon Musk said the new $200,000 sports car would be the fastest production car ever.

Reuters spoke to dozens of current and former analysts who moved to independent research shops or investment firms, joined companies in industries they covered, or have launched new careers or are considering doing so, after nearly a decade of cost-cutting that is likely to accelerate under MiFID.

Argentina is South America’s new hotspot for venture capital, with the growth of investment inflows outpacing neighboring Chile and Brazil. Much of that heads to Argentina’s elegant riverfront capital, Buenos Aires.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider a major cellphone privacy case later this month, but leading players in the wireless industry that is at the center of the closely watched dispute are keeping their distance.

U.S.

TransCanada shut part of its Keystone oil pipeline system after a 5,000-barrel leak in South Dakota, the company said on Thursday, four days before neighboring Nebraska was set to decide on the company’s long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.

From Pataskala, Ohio, to Conroe, Texas, local government leaders worry that if Republican tax-overhaul plans moving through the U.S. Congress become law, it will be harder for them to pave streets, put out fires, fight crime and pay teachers.

The United States and South Korea have agreed to keep working for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis, but a U.S. envoy said it was difficult to gauge the reclusive North’s intentions as there has been “no signal”.

Jared Kushner’s lawyer failed to give the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee documents President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser received about a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite,” the committee’s leaders said on Thursday.