Early Headlines: U.S.Tropical Diseases, China Military Power, China Death Toll Could Reach 200, ISIS Chemical Weapons, Migrant Dangers U.S. and Europe and More

Early Bird Headlines 16 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

• IAAF accused of suppressing athletes’ doping study (BBC News) Athletics’ governing body suppressed a study which showed as many as a third of the world’s top athletes admitted violating anti-doping rules, according to the Sunday Times. The University of Tubingen in Germany is reported to have said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) blocked publication.
• Ad Blocking’s Unintended Consequences (Harvard Business Review) Quality free content on the internet may start to be become less available if user software apps called ad blockers significantly reduce revenue for sites that depend on display ads to cover their expenses. From the article:

According to one report, U.S. publishers lose more than 9% of ad revenue due to ad blocking. For some websites, especially those with tech savvy readers, the percentage loss may be as high as 50%. As ad blockers grow in popularity and ad revenues continue to drop, many websites may face a threat of financial collapse.

U.S.

• Is America ready for a new wave of tropical diseases? (CNN) Tropical diseases long thought never present or long banished from the U.S. are now reappearing.
• Ariz. authorities searching for 20 lost migrants in desert (New York Daily News, MSN News)
  
• The U.S. Foreclosure Crisis Was Not Just a Subprime Event (NBER Digest) Hat tip to Mark Thoma via Twitter. Here is the link to the full working paper.

• Total U.S. Auto Lending Surpasses $1 Trillion for First Time (The Wall Street Journal) Hat tip to Idea Economics via Twitter. Auto loans are chasing college loan debt to drive consumer credit to new highs in the U.S.

UK

• Calais migrant crisis: Breaches of Eurotunnel ‘down’ (BBC News) The number of migrants trying to get into the Eurotunnel terminal near Calais has fallen to about 150 a night, the operator says, down from a high of 2,000 at the end of last month.

Italy

• At least 40 migrants die in Mediterranean: Italy navy (Reuters, MSN News) It was the second such fatal incident in the Mediterranean this week, during which about 2,000 migrants have been rescued. Last Tuesday, up to 50 migrants went missing when a large rubber dinghy sank in the Mediterranean Sea. More than 100,000 have arrived in Italy so far this year and at least an equal number have arrived in Europe via other pathways.

Iraq

• Islamic State Suspected of Using Chemical Weapon, U.S. Says (The Wall Street Journal) Militants likely used mustard agent on Kurdish forces in Iraq this past week, according to “senior U.S. officials“.

China

• China blasts death toll 112 and likely to rise as scores of fire fighters missing (Reuters) The death toll from massive explosions in China’s port of Tianjin has risen to 112 and 95 people, most of them fire fighters, are missing, state media said on Sunday, suggesting the toll will rise significantly. More than 720 people remained in hospital four days after Wednesday’s disaster
• Podcast: How China’s military might matches up with the United States (Reuters) China is the world’s youngest and most ambitious superpower. Over the past decade the country has dumped billions of dollars into its military. That rapid expansion worries some analysts. Now Beijing is regional military juggernaut, expanding its hold on the Pacific and pushing against the U.S and its allies. China can now project military power like never before. But does regional power lead to global dominance?

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