Early Headlines: Dubai Fire, Islam on Interest and More

Early Bird Headlines 21 February 2015

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.

U.S.

• Governors Weigh What Obamacare Ruling Could Mean For States’ Subsidies (Bloomberg Business) Supreme Court is hearing a case that could rule out subsidies for policies obtained thrugh the federal website Healthcare.gov.
  
• Another winter storm to pummel eastern United States with snow and sleet (Reuters)
  

Dubai

• Fire breaks out at luxury Dubai skyscraper (CNN) The world’s tallest residential tower, ironically named The Torch building, has been extensively damaged by fire. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Turkey

• Between Consumer Demand and Islamic Law: The Evolution of Islamic Credit Cards in Turkey (Social Science Research Network) Hat tip to Wayne Marr. “Islamic” credit cards do not represent any fundamental financial innovation but are just surreptitiously hiding their violation of Sharia law which forbids interest.

Iraq

• Battle to Retake Iraqi City Looms as Test of Obama’s ISIS Strategy (The New York Times) Reclaiming the city of Mosul will require up to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops, U.S. officials said.

Iran

• Iran sends high-level negotiators to Geneva nuclear talks (Reuters)

Ukraine

• Ukraine Military and Rebels Complete a Prisoner Exchange (The New York Times) 139 captured Ukrainian troops were exchanged for 52 rebels.
  

Russia

• Russian Sovereign Wealth Funds: 2015 drawdowns (Constantin Gurdgiev, true econimics) Constantin contributes to GEI.
• Amid massive anti-Kiev rally, Yanukovich speaks of return (Reuters) Rally was in Moscow.
  
• Russian Perception of the West: Hitting Historical Lows
  (Constantin Gurdgiev, true econimics)

Canada

• Canadian whistleblower’s testimony leads to multi-billion dollar settlement (Global News) Hat tip to New Economic Perspectives.