Early Bird Headlines 23 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.
U.S.
America Owes Martha Stewart an Apology (The Daily Beast) After five of the biggest banks in the world pleaded guilty to criminal charges-and not a single person will face jail time for those crimes-it’s time to admit Martha Stewart should’ve never served time in prison at all.
U.S. Coast Guard Responds to Oil Platform Fire in Gulf of Mexico (The Wall Street Journal) The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it is responding to a fire at an oil production platform near New Orleans. The platform is a collection station that pumps oil from wells into a pipeline. The wells feeding the facility have been shutdown.
Redacted Words Caused More Trouble for Clinton Than 296 E-Mails (Bloomberg) Messages contained no smoking guns on Benghazi, but critics pounced when the FBI deemed a sentence and a half too sensitive to release. That’s a problem for Clinton because she said the private e-mail address she chose to use while secretary was never the vehicle for classified information. The State Department says the “subsequent upgrade does not mean anyone did anything wrong“.
Exclusive: Prosecutors probe possible criminal case in California oil spill (Reuters) Government prosecutors are investigating the company at the center of the California oil spill, Plains All American Pipeline, for possible criminal sanctions, according to the district attorney of Santa Barbara – a city that helped spawn the modern environmental movement.
BEA Works to Mitigate Potential Sources of Residual Seasonality in GDP (Bureau of Economic Analysis) The BEA is working on a multi-pronged action plan to improve its estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) by identifying and mitigating potential sources of “residual” seasonality. That’s when seasonal patterns remain in data even after they are adjusted for seasonal variations. The new methodology will be applied to the advance estimate for Q2 due 30 July 2015. The BEA says more details will published mid-June.
ISIS: Michelle Obama Is Worth $40 (The Daily Beast) The latest issue of an ISIS propaganda magazine puts a price on the First Lady in the slavery market it says will one day come to the United States.
Saudi Arabia
Suicide bomber kills 21 at Saudi Shi’ite mosque, Islamic State claims attack (Reuters)
Iraq
Baghdad halts Ramadi refugee flow after capture by IS (BBC News) The authorities in Baghdad have closed a key bridge, stopping refugees fleeing the city of Ramadi from entering the Iraqi capital. Econintersect: The refugees are from a prdominantly Sunni province and the government in Baghdad is controlled by Shiites. See next article.
The Old, Multi-Ethnic Iraq Is Over: Richard Haass (Bloomberg) Richard Haass, president at Council on Foreign Relations, says it is time to have Rand McNally redraw some maps.
Ukraine
EU agrees 1.8bn-euro loan to cash-strapped Ukraine (BBC News) The EU has agreed a €1.8 billion (£1.3 billion; $2 billion) loan to Ukraine – described as a landmark deal for a non-EU member. The agreement was signed at an EU summit in Riga, Latvia, with the leaders of six post-Soviet nations.
China
Why the U.S. Needs to Listen to China (Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, The Atlantic) And why China needs to listen to the U.S. The importance of the mutual economic criticisms between two major world powers.
Colombia
Farc suspends truce after Colombia army attack (BBC News) Colombia’s Farc leftist rebel group has suspended a unilateral ceasefire after 26 of its fighters were killed in a government air and ground offensive. The ceasefire had been in place since December 2014. Farc said it wanted a full bilateral truce but stressed it was not abandoning the long-running peace talks taking place in Havana
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.
