Saudi Crown Prince speaks, cold war spying and Me Too: Weekend Reads

[Balance of Power]( From [Bloomberg Politics]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  The bombshell revelations of two very different types of spying from China and Russia competed for headlines this week with the polarizing confirmation process of U.S. Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts to hang on to her Conservative Party leadership. In Riyadh our team sat down with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and discussed everything from [oil](, to the [Aramco IPO](, [Telsas](, the [missing journalist]( critical of his rule, and [relations with President Donald Trump](. You can find a complete transcript [here](. Enjoy these and other top stories from the past seven days in this edition of Weekend Reads. - Michael Winfrey May promised to [end austerity]( as she fights to win back voters and steer Britain toward Brexit. See more of our week’s best photos in our [Political Focus](slideshow. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg [Kavanaugh's Rise Heralds New Conservative Era on Supreme Court]( U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh secured enough support to win confirmation in a vote in the Senate today after Maine Republican Susan Collins said the accusations against him of sexual assault weren't sufficient to block him. [Greg Stohr]( writes how the result of a bruising battle between Republicans and Democrats will affect the court for decades and weigh heavily on November’s midterm elections. [China Used Tiny Chip in Hack That Infiltrated Amazon, Apple]( A top-secret probe has revealed a unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army inserted microchips not much bigger than a grain of rice on motherboards to gain access to computers used by U.S. companies including Amazon and Apple. [Jordan Robertson]( and [Michael Riley]( explain how the hardware hack affected products from businesses with ties to the U.S. Navy and the Central Intelligence Agency. [Click hear to take the Bloomberg Politics weekly news quiz]( [As Merkel’s Star Begins to Fade, Here’s Who to Watch in Germany]( One year into Angela Merkel’s fourth term, she’s no longer queen of all she surveys. [Patrick Donahue](, [Arne Delfs](, [Birgit Jennen](, and [Patricia Suzara]( write how, with her days of near-hegemony over, these are the faces to watch in the months ahead. [Trump Bets Bashing China Will Sway Voters Before Bill Comes Due]( To turn his trade war with China into a vote-winner, Trump needs the backing of places like Oshkosh. [Andrew Mayeda]( reports on the ups and downs of globalization that have left their mark on this town of 66,000 in northern Wisconsin, a battleground state in next month’s midterm elections. [Putin Denials Mask Dismay at ‘L]([aughable’]([ Spy Shortcomings Abroad]( The exposure of Russian espionage operations by Dutch, U.K. and U.S. authorities has opened a window into the sometimes sloppy tradecraft of the Kremlin’s GRU military-intelligence service.  [Henry Meyer]( and [Irina Reznik]( look at palpable unease at the catalog of mishaps by President Vladimir Putin’s now-infamous spies. [Consumed by Brexit, U.K.’s Conservatives Face Up to Mortality]( Britain’s Conservative Party has a [bigger problem]( than the incessant infighting surrounding Brexit. [Thomas Penny]( and [Charlotte Ryan]( tell how it’s turning its fire against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to stop a slide in popularity. [From Jails to Congress, Brazil Evangelicals Could Swing Election]( Evangelical Christians are changing the political landscape in the world’s largest Catholic nation, Brazil, before tomorrow’s elections.[R.T. Watson](, [David Biller](, [Samy Adghirni]( show how these voters’ growing role highlights disillusionment with soaring crime, corruption and joblessness a decade after the country was embraced as a star of the developing world. [Teenager's Gang-Rape Claim Inspires ‘MeToo’ Movement in Morocco]( A teenager gang-raped and abused for two months before being dumped back at home is shaking up politics in Morocco by insisting on pressing charges. [Souhail Karam]( tells the story of Khadija Ouqrou’s rare break with conservative mores. [And finally]( … Since the New York Times [reported]( allegations of serial predation by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein a year ago, at least 425 prominent people across industries have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct. As [Riley Griffin](, [Hannah Recht]( and [Jeff Green]( report, that’s more than one newly reported person facing accusations each day, on average, for the last 12 months.    Like Balance of Power? 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