Early Headlines: Black Churches Burning, Greece Crisis Builds, US-Venezuela Talks, India Mfg Growth Slows, Japan vs. US Sunday and More

Early Bird Headlines 01 July 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.

• Black Churches Are Burning, and We Need to be Asking Why (Identities.Mic) Six southern church fires have occurred within a week and a half of the murder of nine black parishioners by a white racial supremacist at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (“Mother Emanuel”) in Charleston, South Carolina. Officials are investigating at least three of the fires – in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia – as arson. Because the investigations are not complete, it cannot yet be determined whether any of these fires were the consequences of racially motivated terrorism. Nevertheless, the specter of racial bigotry in America’s past haunts our present. White racial supremacists have long targeted black churches in the U.S.

Greece

• Greece’s Tsipras digs in against bailout (Reuters) Wednesday evening (01 July) the Greek prime minister has reacted to the rejection of any further discussion by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Eurozone leaders (see next article) by renewing his call for Greeks to reject the austerity plan offered by “The Institution” (Greece’s creditors). His call comes as Greek voters now appear in the latest polls to be moving toward a “yes” vote which would affirm acceptance of the offer. See second article below.
• Greece crisis: Eurozone rules out talks until after referendum (BBC News) Eurozone finance ministers have ruled out any further talks on a fresh bailout for Greece until the country holds its referendum on Sunday. Greeks will be asked to accept or reject proposals made by creditors last week, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urging a “No” vote. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis accused the creditors of blackmail. But he pledged a deal would be reached soon after the vote and that current limits on bank withdrawals would ease.
• Europe Rebuffs Greek Overture as Poll Shows Voters Leaning ‘Yes’ (Bloomberg) The latest polling results show 47% accepting more austerity and 43% rejecting. Early polling reports had more than 50% rejecting the EU austerity offer.
• Greece’s Syriza Spars Over Bailout Strategy as Europe Spurns New Offer (The Wall Street Journal) Tsipras swings from compromise to confrontation; first polls on referendum show conflicting results. Best guess now is for an evenly divided vote on Sunday when the Greek voters will vote yes or no on the austerity plan proposed by Greece’s creditors.
• Why a NO vote in the Referendum is a Yes for a proud Greece in a Decent Europe – Talking with Phillip Adams, on LNL ABC Radio National, Yanis Varoufakas)  This is an audio of a 14 minute interview Tuesday night of Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis by Australian Phillip Adams on the Late Night Live show.
  

India

• Job squeeze to get tighter as PMI manufacturing shrinks (Business Standard) Growth in the India’s manufacturing activities slowed down in June as new business orders were not as forthcoming, showed a widely tracked Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). The index was down at 51.3 points in June from 52.6 points in May. PMI was 51.3 points in April as well. PMI above 50 points shows expansion and the manufacturing activities have been on an expansion path since November 2013.

Japan

• Japan learns from crisis in Greece (Taipai Times) Japanese government economist Susumu Takahashi said that the nation’s top priority should be to make sure it does not stifle its recovery. Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari said last week:

“Greece raised taxes and cut spending, but as a result has seen tax revenues fall for three straight years. Greece was doing what it thought was necessary. In fact, it pulled itself into further suffering with its economy shrinking.”

• Women’s World Cup: Japan edges England, advances to final against U.S. (CNN) Japan used an own-goal by England defender Laura Bassett to defeat the British side 2-1 in Edmonton Wednesday night. The No. 3 seed and defending World Cup Champion will meet No. 2 seed U.S. on Sunday in the World Cup final in Vancouver. The U.S. beat No. 1 seed Germany 2-0 Tuesday night.

China

• Chinese stock market volatility shows little sign of abating (Financial Times) But the decline in the Shanghai Composite was a modest 0.7% Thursday in midday trading, following a 5% collapse on Wednesday.
• World Bank censures China for interfering in financial sector (Reuters) The World Bank on Wednesday censured China for the state’s extensive interference in the financial system, saying it could stoke potential instability unless Beijing undertakes urgent reforms to eliminate distortions in the broader economy. The bank said it welcomed the slowdown in Asia’s powerhouse economy as it showed the growth model was changing for the better, reducing vulnerabilities built up by a credit-fueled bounce that followed the 2008 global financial crisis. But the World Bank also criticized the Chinese government for interfering extensively in the financial sector and undermining its own efforts at developing a sound financial system.

Venzuela

• Exclusive: U.S., Venezuela launch quiet diplomacy to ease acrimony (Reuters) The United States and Venezuela have embarked on their most extensive dialogue in years in an attempt to improve their acrimonious relations, according to a senior U.S. administration official.

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.