Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 17 September 2017
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
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Global
- Who Pays The Bill When Mother Nature Strikes? (Bloomberg)
U.S.
- Trump Administration Seeks to Avoid Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord, International Climate Officials Say (The Wall Street Journal) Trump administration officials said Saturday the U.S. wouldn’t pull out of the Paris Agreement, offering to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change, according to multiple officials at a global warming summit. Econintersect: All it took was one major hurricane that might have destroyed Mir A Lago?
- Mueller just obtained a warrant that could change the entire nature of the Russia investigation (Business Insider)
Robert Mueller obtained a search warrant for records of “inauthentic” Facebook accounts
It’s bad news for Russian election interference “deniers”
- Mueller may be looking to charge specific foreign entities with a crime
- FEMA auctioned off disaster-response trailers days before Harvey’s landfall (The Hill) The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) auctioned off more than 100 disaster-response trailers at discounted prices just days before Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, The Associated Press reported on Saturday. The 2017 model trailers were reportedly being sold either without problems, or with only minor damage, such as missing furniture or flat tires.
- Tropical Storm Maria threatens Caribbean; Lee forms in Atlantic (CNN) Tropical Storm Maria formed Saturday in the western Atlantic Ocean, prompting a hurricane watch for areas battered by Hurricane Irma last week. Maria is about 590 miles east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles and is packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. The storm is moving toward the Caribbean at 19 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Sig Silber is already on the situation: Extreme Concern about Maria – 17Sep2017.
- Trump makes good on pledge to donate to Harvey relief (The Hill) President Trump has acted on his promise to donate $1 million of his personal fortune to charities helping with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, the White House said. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed to The Hill that the president cut checks to 12 organizations helping the the Gulf region recover from the monster storm, which devastated swaths of southeast Texas and Louisiana last month. The Hill confirmed with multiple groups that they received the funds this week.
- Trump’s Judicial Makeover is White and Far-Right (The Real News Network) Aarom Mate interviews Kanau K. Franklin who is an activist attorney and political editor for Atlanta Black Star.
Germany
- Mercedes-Benz will offer an electric version of every model by 2022 (Business Insider) Daimler’s Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche last week said Mercedes-Benz will offer electric versions of all its models by 2022, converting its Smart city car brand to become fully electric. Speaking at the company’s investor day in Sindelfingen, Germany, Daimler said it will offer at least 50 electrified versions of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in a hybrid and fully electric car variants.
Russia
- Russian Progressives Challenge Putin From Below (The Real News Network) Aaron Mate interviews Alyona Minkovski, an independent journalist and former host of HuffPost Live and The Alyona Show, about the surprising (to Many) recent gains by Putin’s opponents in Moscow’s municipal election, picking up about 200 seats.
India
- Gun rise: Illegal factories in Bihar, Bengal make a killing (The Hindu) India has a problem with individuals possessing unlicensed firearms. And many of them are relatively primitive weapons manufactured illegally within the country. The tribals in Bastar use them. The Maoists in Dandakaranya swear by them. The gangs of Mumbai kill with them, and poachers in Tamil Nadu hunt with them. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, the trade in illegal, country-made weapons thrives.
Such guns include the kind suspected to have been used to murder people like Gauri Lankesh and Gulshan Kumar of T-series.
There are many variants, to suit every purse and purpose. The tribals in south Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra call it Bharmar, a muzzle loading gun. Easy to make, it can be fired only once but 5 to 6 bullets can be fired at a time. Accuracy is suspect, though. Not that this is a serious setback, going by its widespread use, especially among the lower rung Maoists.
