REUTERS NEWS SCHEDULE AT 6 a.m. GMT/2 p.m. SGT

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles early on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, only days after it launched two similar missiles intended to pressure South Korea and the United States to stop upcoming military drills.

HONGKONG-PROTESTS/ New protest erupts as Hong Kong charges 44 activists with rioting

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of people surrounded a police station in Hong Kong on Tuesday chanting “free the martyrs” after 44 activists were charged with rioting following weekend clashes between protesters and police defending China’s representative office. U.S.

CALIFORNIA-SHOOTING/ Police believe gunman in deadly California festival rampage acted alone

Investigators are increasingly convinced that a teen gunman who killed three people at a weekend food festival in California acted on his own, but authorities said on Tuesday they remained largely in the dark about the motives for the shooting. USA-TRADE-FARMING/

Bulk of Trump's U.S. farm aid goes to biggest and wealthiest farmers: advocacy group WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of the Trump administration’s $8.4 billion in trade aid payments to U.S. farmers through April was received by the top 10% of recipients, the country’s biggest and most successful farmers, a study by an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.

BUSINESS APPLE-RESULTS/

Apple's services, wearables shore up results as iPhone drops below half of sales Apple Inc iPhone sales dropped to less than half of quarterly revenue for the first time in seven years, but CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday described the change as successfully diversifying away from a single product and forecast results above Wall Street targets.

USA-FED/ With Fed sure to cut rates, Powell on hook to flag next steps

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is almost certain to cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade on Wednesday, delivering a mild jolt to an economy that is facing headwinds from trade disputes and a global slowdown. ENTERTAINMENT

USA-SWEDEN-RAPPER/ U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky kicked and punched me, teenager tells Swedish court

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A teenager told a Swedish court on Tuesday that he was kicked and punched by U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky and two of his entourage during an altercation outside a hamburger restaurant in Stockholm last month. MUSIC-WOODSTOCK/

Miley Cyrus latest star to abandon Woodstock 50 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Miley Cyrus was reported on Tuesday to have pulled out of the troubled Woodstock 50 festival, joining a string of other big names who say they will no longer take part in the official event meant to mark the anniversary of the landmark 1969 music festival.

SPORTS TENNIS-WASHINGTONDC/

Americans Stephens and Gauff crash out in Washington Top seed and former champion Sloane Stephens crashed out of the Citi Open in Washington as she suffered a stunning 6-2 7-5 first-round loss to Swede Rebecca Peterson on Tuesday while teenager Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff also fell in straight sets.

BASKETBALL-NBA-NOTEBOOK/ NBA notebook: Blazers' McCollum inks $100 million extension

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum agreed to a three-year contract extension Tuesday, the team announced. UPCOMING

POLITICS / INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS USA-BALTIMORE/ (PIX) (TV)

WIDER IMAGE: In Baltimore, healing was under way long before Trump's tweets Civic-minded activists did not need President Donald Trump's incendiary tweets to swing into action. Well aware of their problems, including the highest murder rate among big U.S. cities, Baltimoreans are engaging in projects big and small in an attempt to lift their city of some 620,000 people.

31 Jul 17:00 ET / 21:00 GMT CRIME / LAW / JUSTICE

PEOPLE-JEFFREY EPSTEIN/ (PIX) (TV) Hearing in financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case

A status hearing is scheduled in the sex trafficking case against American financier Jeffrey Epstein before U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan. 31 Jul 11:00 ET / 15:00 GMT

GERMANY-COURT/ECB (PIX) Germany's highest court hears case against ECB's bond-buying programme

Germany's Constitutional Court hears four constitutional complaints about the European Central Bank's Public Sector Asset Purchase Programme, also known as quantitative easing. The asset purchase programme was launched in March 2015 to prevent sub-zero inflation from further hitting an economy still reeling from the euro zone debt crisis. It ended in December 2018. 31 Jul 04:00 ET / 08:00 GMT

BUSINESS / ECONOMICS PRUDENTIAL FINL-RESULTS/

Prudential Financial to report Q2 2019 results Prudential Financial Inc,the largest U.S. life insurer by assets, will report its second quarter results on Wednesday after markets close. Analysts are awaiting the results of Prudential's annual review of its actuarial assumptions and whether any will require adjustments to the insurer's reserving.

31 Jul 16:00 ET / 20:00 GMT VALE SA-RESULTS/

Vale Q2 earnings to provide snapshot of dam burst recovery efforts Vale, the world's largest iron ore exporter, is set to report quarterly results, with investors likely to focus on the company's forward-looking statements about cleaning up the site of the deadly dam collapse at Brumadinho. They will also be looking for new details about potential settlements of the various investigations the company faces in the aftermath of the disaster.

31 Jul 07:30 ET / 11:30 GMT LLOYDS-RESULTS/

Lloyds Banking Group publishes half-year results Britain's largest domestic lender Lloyds Banking Group publishes results for the first half of 2019, with investors looking for any signs Brexit concerns could be hitting lending to consumers and businesses.

31 Jul 03:00 ET / 07:00 GMT SPOTIFY TECH-RESULTS/

Q2 2019 Spotify Technology SA Earnings Release Sweden's Spotify Technology SA is expected to post a rise in second quarter revenue on Wednesday, the world's largest streaming music service racked up more paid subscribers for its premium service this quarter. Analysts will be looking for how many more active and premium users the company would add by the end of the current quarter and how it performed in comparison to nearest rival Apple Music.

31 Jul 08:30 ET / 12:30 GMT GE-RESULTS/ (PIX)

Q2 2019 General Electric Co Earnings Release Investors are watching for the size of GE's free cash outflow. Analysts slashed cash estimates for the second quarter to about negative $1.79 billion after the company warned about an outflow in late April. On adjusted profits, analysts on average expect about 12 cents a share in the second quarter.

31 Jul 08:30 ET / 12:30 GMT USA-TRADE/BRAZIL

U.S. Commerce Secretary Ross meets Brazil's Bolsonaro One day after U.S. President Donald Trump offered to negotiate a free trade deal with Brazil, his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross meets Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Economy Minster Paulo Guedes in Brasilia.

31 Jul 14:00 ET / 18:00 GMT BUNGE-RESULTS/

Q2 2019 Bunge Ltd Earnings Release Bunge is expected to release its second-quarter earnings. 31 Jul 08:30 ET / 12:30 GMT

ZIMBABWE-ECONOMY/ (PIX) Zimbabwe finance minister presents mid-year budget statement to parliament

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube will present the half year budget review statement, seeking to revive growth in the face of soaring inflation, drought and acute shortages of foreign currency and electricity. 31 Jul 08:30 ET / 12:30 GMT

BRITAIN-EU/STERLING (PIX) UK holidaymakers feel the first hit of sterling's Brexit slide

As sterling slides on mounting worries about a no-deal Brexit, British holidaymakers are feeling the most immediate impact of the fall as they discover that their pounds are buying them fewer euros and dollars. That is something much of the rest of the country is likely to have to get used to as new Prime Minister Boris Johnson sticks to his tough stance with Brussels. 31 Jul 09:30 ET / 13:30 GMT

QUALCOMM-RESULTS/ Qualcomm Inc Reports Third Quarter Results

Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc is expected to report a fall in third-quarter revenue hurt by U.S. restriction on Huawei Technologies Ltd during the reporting quarter and general slowdown in the smartphone industry. Investors would want to know about Qualcomm being impacted by reports of Apple buying Intel's smartphone-modem chip business, the U.S.-China tariff impact, slowdown in chip industry and forecast. 31 Jul 16:00 ET / 20:00 GMT

SPORTS GM-PREVIEW/ (PIX)

GM faces declining sales and price wars in largest markets General Motors Co's investors will see on Thursday how the Detroit carmaker is weathering declining sales and mounting price pressures in its largest markets when it reports second-quarter earnings.

31 Jul 07:00 ET / 11:00 GMT

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