Early Headlines: ‘Cruel Germans’, Greek Banks to Reopen, Russian Missile Downed MH17, Earth Deep Freeze by 2030? and More

Early Bird Headlines 17 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.

Global

• Scientists: Sun’s irregular ‘heartbeat’ could mean future freeze (CNN) Scientists have made a discovery about the sun’s “heartbeat” that they say indicates that Earth’s Northern Hemisphere could experience a deep freeze in 15 years. Econintersect: We are very skeptical. The research has been reported informally and is not peer reviewed.
• Warming of oceans due to climate change is unstoppable, say US scientists (The Guardian) Seas will continue to warm for centuries even if man made greenhouse gas emissions were frozen at today’s levels, say U.S. government scientists. See State of the Climate 2014 (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society)
  

U.S.

• Tennessee Gunman Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez: ‘Life Is Short and Bitter’ (The New York Times) A disturbing story of a seemingly successful, well-liked young Muslim with an engineering degree, living in an upper-middle class neighborhood in a seemingly well structured family. And then he went on a shooting rampage.
  

Germany

• Greece bailout revives image of the ‘cruel German’ (The Washington Post) A divided Germany rose from the ashes of the Nazi defeat in World War II, weathering the Cold War to transform into one of the good guys. Modern Germany quickly molded itself into the standard-bearer of global pacifism, a hotbed of youth culture and the tree-hugging Lorax of nations in the fight against climate change. But, just like that, the image of the “cruel German” is back.

Greece

• Greek banks due to reopen on Monday as crisis eases (The Orange County Register) The acute economic crisis that has gripped Greece for weeks eased markedly Thursday as European officials dismantled key obstacles to desperately needed loans and the country’s banks prepared to reopen Monday, three weeks after locking their doors. The unusually positive signals came hours after Greece’s Parliament reluctantly approved austerity measures required as a condition of a $96 billion bailout deal, the country’s third financial rescue in five years. The Parliament’s endorsement won rare praise from European creditors but has created deep divisions in the Greek government and a sense of despair among the Greek people.
• On the Euro Summit’s Statement on Greece: First thoughts (Yanis Varoufakis) A succinct discussion in bullet form. Two notable soundbites: (1) The bailout agreement of 2010 was a “New Versailles Treaty” which will “haunt Europe“; and (2) the events this week is “nothing short of the culmination of a coup“.

Ukraine

• Footage of Russian-backed rebels ransacking MH17 luggage is sickening, Julie Bishop says (The Guardian) The Australian foreign minister says it is deeply disturbing that the video published by News Corp Australia has now emerged. Australian prime minister Tony Abbott “suspects Russian president Vladimir Putin is horrified by the event and does not believe the Russian leader knew anything in advance“.
• First on CNN: Sources say MH17 report blames Russian missile for shooting down plane (CNN) Dutch accident investigators say that evidence points to pro-Russian rebels as being responsible for shooting down MH-17, according to a source who has seen the report. According to the source, the report says it was a Buk missile — a Russian surface-to-air missile — that was used, launched from a village in Russian rebel controlled territory.
• Putin bristles at MH17 tribunal talk as anniversary nears (CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte by phone Thursday that Dutch efforts to create a tribunal to try the case were premature and counterproductive, since an investigation hasn’t ended.

China

China defaults to rise as corporate debt burden climbs: S&P (The Business Times)

China’s corporate debt market, already the largest in the world, has continued to worsen as the world’s second-largest economy slows, and defaults are expected to increase, rating agency Standard & Poor’s said in a report on Thursday.

Sovereign support could be forthcoming in the case of state-owned enterprises but its scope and effectiveness was uncertain, S&P said, while pointing to the recent state intervention during the stock market turmoil, the ratings agency said. “The Chinese central government’s ‘capitalism with Chinese characteristics’ has led to the corporate sector (including state-owned enterprises) incurring more debt than the sovereign,” the agency said in a report, noting that the corporate debt burden was eight times government debt.

China’s corporate debt-to-GDP rose to 160 per cent to US$16.1 trillion in 2014, twice that of the United States, from about 120 per cent in 2013, and was expected to worsen since corporate debt would outpace GDP growth in coming years.

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