Early Headlines: Verizon-AOL and Yahoo!, Big Moves by Facebook, TPP Defeat, Australian Budget, Chicago Junk Debt, Amtrak Wreck, New Nepal Quake and More

Early Bird Headlines 13 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

• What Will 2050 Look Like? (Foreign Policy)
• The rise and rise of the 2015 El Niño (The Conversation) GEI weather and climate economist Sig Silber has reported on the off-again, on-again journey of El Nino 2015 in his weekly columns.
• Financial sector in advanced economies is too big, says IMF (Financial Times) More on this IMF report in “What We Read Today” later today.

U.S.

• Senate deals stinging defeat to Obama trade agenda (The Hill) Senate Democrats on Tuesday delivered a stinging blow to President Obama’s trade agenda by voting to prevent the chamber from tackling fast-track legislation. The Hill says this could be “the beginning of the end for one of Obama’s top priorities“.
• Facebook hires former FCC chief Martin to head mobile/access policy (Seeking Alpha) The Washington-Wall Street revolving door keeps spinning.
  
• Verizon Agrees to Buy AOL for $4.4 Billion (The Wall Street Journal) Verizon wants to grow in the already crowded online and mobile video marketplace and mobile advertising. The chief attraction for Verizon in this deal comes from the advanced technology AOL has developed for selling ads and delivering high-quality Web video.
  
• Will AOL/Verizon force Yahoo to spend—or sell? (CNBC) Yahoo is the last dog in the fight after AOL is bought out by Verizon. As the only early internet company still in existence will Yahoo! be forced to merge, sell out or change strategy? Analysts think one of the three actions will be required.
• Report: NYT-Facebook direct publishing deal set to begin tomorrow (Seeking Alpha) The New York Times will start start publishing articles directly to Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) platform, New York magazine is reporting. BuzzFeed, NBC News and National Geographic are also said to be joining the launch. It is not clear how The NYT will protect its nearly 1 million online subscriptions business.
• Moody’s downgrades Chicago debt to ‘junk’ with negative outlook (CNBC) Moody’s said it believes that “the city’s options for curbing growth in its own unfunded pension liabilities have narrowed considerably.”
  
• 50+ Hurt After Amtrak Train Derails, Rolls on Side in Philadelphia (NBC10.com) A train bound from Washington to New York with 238 passengers derailed around 9:30 pm Tuesday 12 May in Philadelphia. This source has extensive pictures and video. It will be updated frequently.  Latest news:  5 dead, 6 critically injured and dozens hospitalized (Associated Press, AOL).
  

Greece

• Foreign Media Reports After Eurogroup Meeting on Greece (Greek Reporter) Great summary of Greek news after the country made its latest payment to the IMF.
  

Iran

• Pentagon: ‘Absolutely unnecessary’ for Iran warships to escort vessel to Yemen (CNN) Hat tip to Alun Hill. The Pentagon is calling on Iran not to unload humanitarian supplies in Yemen but rather dock a ship full of relief items in next door Djibouti, where the United Nations is setting up a supply hub. The U.S. wants to avoid a possible attempt by Iran to deliver weapons to Yemeni rebels.

China

• China’s FDI up 11.1 pct in Jan.-April (Xinhuanet) Amidst a series of softening economic numbers from China, FDI (foreign direct investment) has delivered a strong 4-month increase for January through April 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. For comparison, the first four months last year was up a slim 1.7% over 2013.
• China says April economic growth within “reasonable range” (The Business Times) China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported today that China’s economic growth was within “a reasonable range” in April, in spite of “complicated and grim economic environment at home and abroad“. The report mentioned an increase of 5.6% year-over-year for industrial output in April, the lowest number there since the Great Recession.
  

India

• CBDT breather for FIIs on MAT issues (The Hindu) The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that it would hold off from issuing fresh demands for minimum alternate tax (MAT) from foreign investors, and advised taxmen not to take coercive action on demands already made, as a government-appointed committee looks into the issue.

South Korea

• S. Korea’s overseas investment up 5.2 pct in Q1 (Yonhap News Agency) South Korea’s overseas direct investment rose 5.2% on-year in the first quarter, with investment in North America, including the United States, up 46.1% on-year and Europe up 19.5%. Investments in Asia and Latin America were down 34.1% and 12.3%,respectively. China (–36.5%) and Vietnam (–24.1%) took especially steep tumbles.
• Korea, China and Japan resume trilateral FTA talks (The Korea Herald) South Korea, Japan and China began the seventh round of negotiations for the Korea-China-Japan joint Free Trade Area (FTA) in Seoul on Tuesday. The proposed FTA, if signed, will establish the first free trade zone among the three nations, which together account for 20% of the world’s GDP at more than $16 trillion.

Australia

• INFOGRAPHIC: 2015 federal budget at a glance (The Conversation)
• INFOGRAPHIC: The budget winners and losers (The Conversation)
  

Nepal

• Dozens killed as another major quake hits Nepal weeks after deadly tragedy (The Washington Post) Early reports have documented at least 50 deaths from a strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal Tuesday 12 May. With more major damage in remote villages where houses that were already ­wobbling collapsed completely and mountains cracked and slid, there are no estimates yet about how much the latest death toll may rise.
• Search continues for U.S. helicopter missing in Nepal (CNN) A U.S. military helicopter with as many as eight people on board has gone missing in Nepal on one of the continuing relief missions in that country. CNN says in this report that at least 68 people have died in the latest 7.3 magnitude quake and its aftershocks. Good videos accompany this report.

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