White nationalists are met by a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., August 12, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

U.S.

James Alex Fields, 20, a man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies as a teenager before a failed bid to join the U.S. Army, is due in court today to face charges he plowed his car into protesters opposing a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a woman and injuring 19. Authorities said Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when Fields' car slammed into a crowd of anti-racism activists confronting neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) sympathizers.

GoDaddy boots white supremacist web site after post denigrating woman killed at white nationalist rally

Victim in Virginia melee wept for social justice, her boss says

With U.S. Congress members focused during their August recess on finding ways to lower the corporate tax rate, industry groups and other sectors of society are gearing up to fight proposed changes to the personal income tax. Proposed changes to the personal tax code have already stirred opposition from realtors, home builders, mortgage lenders and charities. These groups say proposed changes will hurt home sales and cut charitable contributions.

Texas measures to restrict access for transgender people to bathrooms in schools and public buildings appear doomed this week after hundreds of businesses stood in opposition and moderate Republican powerbrokers blocked the bills.

Lawyers in Taylor Swift's groping trial move to closing arguments

North Korea

Tensions on the Korean peninsula eased slightly as South Korea's president said resolving Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions must be done peacefully and key U.S. officials played down the risk of an imminent war with North Korea.

With just over three months in office, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is finding little room to maneuver between old enemy North Korea and increasing combativeness from long-time ally, the United States.

The drilling ship at the center of a dispute between Vietnam and China over oil prospecting in disputed waters in the South China Sea has arrived in waters off the Malaysian port of Labuan, Thomson Reuters shipping data showed on Monday.

Trade

Chinese textile firms are increasingly using North Korean factories to take advantage of cheaper labor across the border, traders and businesses in the border city of Dandong told Reuters. The clothes made in North Korea are labeled "Made in China" and exported across the world, they said. 

U.S. President Donald Trump's order to his top trade adviser to investigate supposedly unfair Chinese trade practices will "poison" relations between the two countries, a Chinese state-run newspaper said. 

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing may be running high but Corporate America is finding China to be a reliable source of profit growth this year.

The Trump administration has set a collision course with the auto industry as it launches renegotiations of the 23-year-old NAFTA trade pact this week, aiming to shrink a growing trade deficit with Mexico and tighten the rules of origin for cars and parts.

Burkina Faso

Suspected jihadists killed at least 18 people and wounded several during a raid on a restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital overnight but security forces shot dead both attackers and freed people trapped inside the building.

Cyber Risk 

Hackers have released more unaired episodes of popular HBO shows but the latest leak did not include anything on the hit series "Game of Thrones," the Associated Press reported on Sunday. The hackers, who broke into HBO's computer network and have released stolen information for several weeks, provided more unaired episodes, including the popular show "Curb Your Enthusiasm, " which returns in October.

Business

Shares in French food group Danone rose on Monday after the New York Post newspaper said in a report over the weekend that Danone could be a takeover target.  

German grocery chain Aldi said it has partnered with Instacart to deliver groceries in three U.S. cities, a move that comes amid intense competition and disruption in the industry.

Breakingviews: Killing Libor is a long, messy business

Futures higher as North Korea tensions ease slightly

Commentary

South African President Jacob Zuma narrowly survived his Parliament's vote of no confidence on August 8 - the eighth such vote in as many years. Zuma is also fighting ongoing allegations of corruption, misuse of public funds and a sagging economy - along with continuing public ridicule for once saying that showering after sex could prevent HIV infection. Columnist John Lloyd argues that Zuma is just one example of a growing number of politicians, who, "for all their real and alleged offenses before the law and public morality, can count on a base whose members ignore all that."

Asia's biggest security group is worried that the U.S. focus on North Korea will be at the expense of their region. "Southeast Asian states also are concerned about Kim Jong Un, but do not generally share Washington’s prioritization of the issue because they are concerned it de-emphasizes other critical topics such as South China Sea tensions," writes columnist Andrew Hammond. "If tensions with Pyongyang continue to grow, a risk is that the stand-off in the Korean peninsula will suck up much of the administration’s foreign policy focus in coming months."