Early Bird Headlines 04 May 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.
Global
- More herbivorous species on the verge of extinction due to climate change (World Tech Today) Hat tip to Doomstead Diner – Tweet. Scientists doing field studies find drastic population declines indicate 60% of herbivores are on the verge of extinction.
U.S.
- Gunmen shot dead outside Dallas conference on Prophet cartoons (BBC News) Two gunmen have been shot dead after they opened fire outside a conference on cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a suburb of Dallas, US police say. A security guard was also injured. The event, organized by a group critical of Islam, included a contest for drawings of the Prophet.
EU
- Draghi Starting Euro Bond Buying Turns Out Not to Be One- (Bloomberg) The sure thing of betting on rising eurozone sovereign debt with the ECB qe turns out to note be, well, a sure thing. Bonds made an unexpected move to the downside last week and early indications are that will continue further today.
UK
- Cameron and Clegg plan new coalition (Financial Times) The two leaders are preparing for talks about a new coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to form a government after this week’s election in which no one party is expected to gain a majority. The latest FT poll projects seats from the election for the leading parties: Conservatives 274, Labour 270, SNP 54 and Liberal Democrats 26. Econintersect arithmetic should be double checked, but a likely Labour/SNP coalition would have 24 more seats that the Cameron/Clegg duo. Is Cameron doing too little, too late?
- These U.K. Election Nightmares Might Happen (Bloomberg) The election might produce no government or a government that is unable to operate.
Greece
- the hopelessness of the Greek situation (Bill Mitchell, billy blog) Mitchell really means the situation is hopeless.
The population now prefer almost permanent stagnation with no circuit breakers to giving up the euro. I find that amazing but then I have consistently argued that a Greek exit would be beneficial after the initial costly ructions. I also have no savings at stake (written to save some comments to that effect!).
Ukraine
- World Bank forecasts massive Ukraine economy contraction (Deutsche Welle) Hat tips to Chuck Spinney and Roger Erickson. The World Bank has drastically revised the outlook for Ukraine’s economy for 2015. The revision is down by more than 5% to –7.5%. The conflict in the east has become the main driving force behind the fall, according to a report from the World Bank.
China
- A New Blueprint for US-China Relations (Project Syndicate) Article by Gareth Evans, bio here. Evans says the coming years will see continued rapid growth for China and the U.S. will need an attitude adjustment or we could repeat the ‘vale of tears‘ experiences of the last century.
- China Manufacturing PMI in Contraction: New Orders and Operating Conditions Decline at Strongest Rate in a Year (Mike Shedlock, Alternative Economics)
Taiwan
- China’s Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s Eric Chu in high-level talks (BBC News) These are the first high level talks in six years. The Taiwanese president is limited in what he can do because of strong anti-China sentiment among the Taiwan population.
India
- India soldiers die in Nagaland rebel attack (BBC News) Indian police say eight soldiers have been ambushed and killed by rebels in the north-eastern state of Nagaland. One of the attackers was killed. Violence in the region has escalated since the government broke off a ceasefire last month with the rebels.
Nepal
- Police: 101-year-old man rescued one week after Nepal quake (CNN) Another miracle from under the rubble after the government had declared there was no more hope.
BECOME A GEI MEMBER – IT’s FREE!
Every every afternoon What We Read Today featured column is available only to GEI members.
To become a GEI Member simply subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter.
