Fortune Editors CEO Daily: In Praise of Robert Mueller

Markets Wobble

This week had a bad start in Asia, thanks to recession fears—Nikkei down 3%, Shanghai Composite down 2%, Hang Seng down 2%, and so on. Early trading in Europe was also less than great, with the Stoxx Europe 600 being down 0.3% at the time of writing. U.S. futures are also slightly in the red. MarketWatch

Uber and Careem

Uber is set to buy Middle Eastern rival Careem this week for $3.1 billion in cash and convertible notes, according to Bloomberg, which says the deal could be announced as early as tomorrow. Uber is expected to launch its long-awaited IPO next month, at a valuation of as much as $120 billion. Bloomberg

Belt and Road

The Italian government would like to reassure Washington that its signing-up to China's Belt and Road Initiative is "nothing to worry about," despite the U.S.'s opposition to the deal. "We are maximizing all precautionary measures, and I want to tell the U.S., and I will tell them as well in next week's visit, that they are our allies, and that we understand their concerns," said Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who added that the deal had no 5G component. CNBC

Naspers Listing

The African media giant Naspers, which owns almost a third of the Chinese online giant Tencent, is to make a European listing that will spin off that stake and other international investments such as its stake in Russia's Mail.ru. Naspers will own 75% of the new company, which should be "Europe's largest listed consumer internet company by asset value." It will be listed on the Euronext Amsterdam and in Johannesburg. Financial Times

Barr Summary

What does Attorney General William Barr's summary of the Mueller report really say, from a legal standpoint? The Lawfare team notes that, while it certainly contains good news for the president on the "collusion" front, we don't yet know the full implications. Barr's letter explicitly notes that Mueller's probe did not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice. Lawfare: "The letter suggests but does not state… that the Mueller report has teed up the question of presidential obstruction for evaluation by a different actor—to wit, by Congress—on a decidedly noncriminal basis." Lawfare

May's Position

The weekend saw a flurry of rumors that British Prime Minister Theresa May would be ousted by members of her cabinet, to be replaced by her de-facto deputy, David Lidington, or by Brexiteer Michael Gove. The rumors petered out quickly, but something has to give soon. At least a million people marched Saturday in London to demand the fresh Brexit referendum that May is determined not to allow, and over 5 million signed an anti-Brexit petition. Even Rupert Murdoch's pro-Brexit Sun newspaper is calling for May to name her own exit date. Reuters

Lynch Charges

U.S. prosecutors have filed new charges against Mike Lynch, the British entrepreneur who sold his data firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard. The 17-count indictment now includes new charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. HP says Lynch and former Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain inflated the company's value before the $11.7 billion sale, which led to an $8.8 billion write-down, and is suing them in the U.K. for $5.1 billion; the trial begins today. BBC

Autonomous Warning

Prematurely launching self-driving cars would be "irresponsible" and could end delaying "the best lifesaver in the history of the car" due to an impact on public and regulatory trust, according to Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson. "You have to be very careful when you introduce this, and that's why I think it has to be safer than perceived," he said. FT

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.