Written by John Lounsbury
Early Bird Headlines 25 September 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
- Apocalypse Soon: 9 Terrifying Signs of Environmental Doom and Gloom (Rolling Stone) This August article presents in true Rolling Stone style a story of rising sea levels, earthquake threats and more reasons the world as we know it might be ending.
- Edward Snowden, supporters, unveil anti-spying ‘Snowden Treaty’ (Al Jazeera) Proposed international treaty would set global standards against surveillance and protect whistleblowers.
- Two Kinds of Migration (Ian Bremmer, Twitter) Hat tip to Roger Erickson.
Two Kinds of Migration pic.twitter.com/7GYTgq55a7
– ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 22, 2015
U.S.
- McConnell moves ahead with bipartisan stopgap spending bill (Associated Press) The Senate’s top Republican moved swiftly to avoid a government shutdown in six days, pushing legislation that would keep agencies operating without a contentious fight over money for Planned Parenthood. The action of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., followed a decisive Senate vote blocking a bill that would have stripped Planned Parenthood of its taxpayer funding while keeping the government running through Dec. 11. The vote was 47-52, falling short of a majority and well shy of the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster led by Democrats. Eight Republicans, several of whom support abortion rights, voted with 42 Democrats and two independents to kill the measure.
- Scalia: Death Penalty May Get Overturned (The Daily Beast) In a speech at Rhodes College in Memphis on Tuesday night, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said no one should “mess with the Constitution” and that the death penalty should remain constitutional. But he said that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the court rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.
Germany
- What VW Didn’t Understand About Trust (Harvard Business Review) Protecting the environment is a number one trust issue with more repercussions than lying about accerelation, handling or other performance issues.
Iran
- Interview: UN nuke chief pushback against Iran probe critics (Associated Press) The head of the U.N. nuclear agency, Yukiya Amano, pushed back on Thursday against critics questioning the wisdom of letting Iranian experts take samples meant to help determine whether their own country clandestinely worked in the past on atomic arms, saying he is convinced the process was faultless.
Ukraine
- Ukraine crisis: Rebels order UN agencies to leave (BBC News) The UN humanitarian aid chief has expressed alarm after UN agencies were ordered out of rebel-held parts of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine after the UN warned that some 150,000 people in rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine were not receiving monthly food distributions. The Luhansk separatists had earlier banned 10 other international humanitarian agencies citing “violations“. Pro-Russian rebels seized parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions last year.
Russia
- Russian Stocks May Rally 21%, BCS Says (Bloomberg) Russia’s benchmark stock gauge, one of the most volatile in the world, may rise 21% over the next year in dollar terms as valuations already reflect the worst of the country’s economic crisis, according to BCS Financial Group. The RTS Index can advance to 930 in the next 12 months after tumbling 45% in 2014 as a rout in oil and sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict weighed on the Russian economy. The dollar-denominated benchmark fell 1.6% to 769.38 on Thursday, widening its decline this year to 2.7%.
India
- Indian Prime Minister Modi on Silicon Valley swing to deepen ties (USA Today) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking to raise his country’s profile on the global stage on a trip through Silicon Valley this weekend, the first Indian head of state to visit California in three decades. Modi is looking to deepen ties with the U.S. technology sector as he pushes to grow India’s digital economy.
Japan
- Japan consumer prices fall for first time since launch of BOJ stimulus (Reuters) Japan’s core consumer prices marked the first annual drop since the central bank deployed its massive stimulus program more than two years ago, casting further doubt on whether heavy money printing alone can accelerate inflation to its 2% target. Econintersect: The idiocy of putting money into the financial sector (QE) while taking money out of the consumption market (massive consumption tax hike) was obvious from the beginning. See Japan: Conflicted Policy (GEI News, 04 July 2013). See also Abenomics in tatters (Holger Zschaepitz, Twitter) – below:
#Abenomics in tatters: #Japan consumer prices fall for 1st time since launch of BOJ stimulus. http://t.co/l5RRvp15AO pic.twitter.com/c9cjHAjwn5
– Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) September 25, 2015
China
- China to Announce Cap-and-Trade Program to Limit Emissions (CNBC) President Xi Jinping of China will make a landmark commitment today (Friday, 25 September) to start a national program in 2017 that will limit and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. The move to create a so-called cap-and-trade system would be a substantial step by the world’s largest polluter to reduce emissions from major industries, including steel, cement, paper and electric power. The announcement will come during a White House summit meeting with President Obama – It is part of an ambitious effort by China and the United States to use their leverage internationally to tackle climate change and to pressure other nations to do the same.
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