Early Headlines: Iraq Gov Approves Reforms and Urges Support vs ISIS, Japan to Restart 1st Reactor, Asian Stocks Down and More

Early Bird Headlines 10 August 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

• Asian stocks near one and a half year lows on China data; dollar steady (Reuters) In the six months to May, world trade volumes have shrunk by around 4 percent annualized, a pace of decline that hasn’t been seen since the global recessions of 2001 and 2009. Much of that decline this year has been caused by a sustained slowdown in China.
  

U.S.

• Focus on Fed, euro zone’s economic health (Reuters) The search for clues to whether the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates in September for the first time in nearly a decade is set to intensify next week. Economic news from Europe and China, as well as in the U.S. have the potential to influence what the Fed decides next month.
  
• French boy spared desert death because parents sacrificed water, say US rangers (The Guardian) Enzo Steiner, nine, tells rescuers that parents Ornella and David took one mouthful of water while making him take two during fatal hike at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Econintersect: Having hiked in the White Sands dunes much greater distance than the 1-2 miles covered by the French visitors at this very same time of year (with temperatures around 100 degrees F or slightly higher) we conclude that this family was not only insufficiently supplied with water but also not in good physical condition for walking on the shifting sand slopes of this area. The temperatures they encountered was higher (reportedly around 108 degrees) but the second biggest mistake made was undoubtedly not becoming sufficiently hydrated in the hour before hiking. The biggest mistake, of course, besides misjudging their physical condition, was to only carry 100 ml of water for three people. In my case about a liter of water was consumed the 30-40 minutes before hiking. A liter of water was packed on the hike of about 2.5 hours and 4.5 -5 miles, but none was consumed until the hike was finished.
  

Germany

• Germany just got some shockingly bad industrial production news (Business Insider) German industrial production tanked in June. Production fell 1.4% from May, against the 0.4% rise analysts had expected. Production for the year to date is up only 0.6%. But there is seemingly contradictory related data – see next article.
• German factories just destroyed expectations with an explosion in orders (Business Insider) German factory orders in June had the strongest increase recorded in 2015 so far. Orders rose by 2%month-over-month, and surged upwards by 7.2%from June 2014. This seemingly contradicts the data in the preceding article – it will be seen if the dichotomy can be resolved when the July data is released.

Greece

• Greece hopes to conclude bailout talks by Aug. 11 (Reuters) Greek Parliament will have to ratify any agreement reached.
  

Portugal

• Portugal cautioned by IMF over debt sustainability (Financial Times) Unemployment in Portugal has fallen sharply to less than 12% but the austerity imposing government has been criticized by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) for having a “tangible risk” of failing to bring this year’s budget deficit in under 3%. The center-right government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho is facing a stiff reelection challenge from the “moderately anti-austerity opposition Socialists” in upcoming national elections.

Turkey

• U.S. sends six jets, 300 personnel to Turkey base in Islamic State fight (Reuters) The United States sent six F-16 jets and about 300 personnel to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on Sunday, the U.S. military said, after Ankara agreed last month to allow American planes to launch air strikes against Islamic State militants from there as opart of a 60-nation coalition.

Iraq

• Iraq cabinet backs PM Abbadi’s sweeping reforms (Al Jazeera) Demonstrators in Baghdad rally in support of Abbadi’s moves to scrap key government posts that had been set up based on sectarian lines. The reforms would push out of government former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, widely criticized for inflaming sectarian tensions and making crony appointments. However, al-Maliki issued a short statement backing the proposed plan. Top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is revered by millions of Iraqis, had pushed strongly for the reforms. See also Iraq cabinet approves plan for reform in response to mass protests (The Guardian) and next article.
• Iraqi PM urges global support against ‘foreign’ ISIL (Al Jazeera) Abbadi says ISIL advance is international community’s failure, ahead of coalition summit in Paris to discuss strategy.

Japan

• Japan to Restart 1st Reactor Under New Rules Since Crisis (Associated Press, abc News) A power plant operator said it will restart the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan on Tuesday, the first restart under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster and a milestone for the nation’s return to nuclear power.
  

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