Good morning, here’s your Wednesday morning briefing to set you up for the day ahead. Look out for these three things happening around the world today.

Chamisa challenges Zimbabwe election results

Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa will challenge the result of Zimbabwe’s presidential election, which declared Zanu-PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner in July, in court today.

Mnangagwa won the election by a slim margin with 50.8% of the vote. However, his inauguration has been put on hold following claims that voting was rigged.

According to Chamisa, Mnangagwa was given 70,000 voted by the voting commission in order to avoid a second run-off vote to decide between the two candidates. The party leader claims to have evidence that proves this.

“The number of votes cast in the presidential election does not square with the voter turnout claimed by the Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission),” Chamisa has argued.

Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court will hear Chamisa’s evidence today, with the hearing expected to begin at 9am BST.

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Target expectations buoyed by Walmart

Target Corporation will announce its second quarter results today, with the retailer expected to post positive figures as a result of the collapse of Toys ‘R’ Us and heavy investment in e-commerce.

Following the success of Walmart, which released better than expected Q2 results last week, analysts have tipped Target to deliver earnings per share of $1.40 on revenues of $17.3bn. If correct, that will be up on EPS of $1.23 and revenue of $16.43 in the same quarter last year.

E-commerce and the rise of online shopping is expected to play a big part in helping to boost Target sales. The United States’ second biggest retailer saw online sales climb by 28% year over year in Q1.

US impose sanctions against Russia over Salisbury incident

New sanctions against Russia will come into effect today in response to the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil in March.

The Skripals were attacked with Russian-made nerve agent Novichok. Britain, the European Union and the US have accused Vladimir Putin’s government of being behind the incident.

The US announced the new sanctions earlier this month, claiming that Russia had breached the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Welfare Elimination Act of 1991.The US will block any attempt made by American companies to import a number of items to Russia, including gas engines and electronics.

UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has called on the EU to replicate the Trump administration’s response.


Yesterday’s highlights

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Fake news: Could ‘moral tech’ emerge to protect us?

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