Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 01 November 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
Daylight Saving Time Around the World 2015 (timeanddate.com) Most of the U.S., Canada, Cuba and part of Mexico turned back clocks 1 hour to leave daylight saving time (DST) today at 2 am. A few other western hemisphere countries did the same. The change occurred a week ago in European countries that observe DST. But roughly half of the countries around the globe do not observe DST at all and, among those that do, usage is not uniform in all parts of many countries.
U.S.
Royals Defeat the Mets to Take a 3-1 Lead in the World Series (The New York Times) The Mets were five outs from winning a pivotal Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night when they called on their closer, Jeurys Familia, to protect a 3-2 lead. And then an error by Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy allowed the tying run to score. That was followed by Murphy failing to reach another bouncing ball as the go-ahead run crossed the plate. The Kansas City Royals went on to win 5-3.
Texas storms kill at least six, bring torrential rains (Reuters) At least six people have died in Texas in storms that lashed parts of the state with heavy rains, causing flooding and the cancellation of dozens of flights as twisters were reported near Houston, authorities said on Saturday. A day after tornadoes ripped through buildings outside San Antonio and heavy rains swelled some rivers near Austin to record levels, the National Weather Service reported an apparent twister south of Houston in Brazoria County early on Saturday that damaged 25 trailer homes near the town of Alvin. The Weather Service said it had tracked other possible twisters on Saturday in or near La Porte and Friendswood, near Houston.
Greece
Greece: Protesters target border fence after refugee deaths (Associated Press) Protesters clashed with police guarding a border fence in northern Greece Saturday, following a series of sea accidents that killed dozens of migrants and a warning from authorities that the death toll is likely rise in coming weeks. About 500 anti-government protesters, who traveled from Athens and several towns in northern Greece were involved in the clashes near the border with Turkey after challenging a police cordon blocking access to the fence that spans more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The demonstrators are demanding that Greece tear down the fence and allow refugees to cross by land instead of risking their lives on the sea crossing to Europe. As winter approaches the sea crossing is becoming ever more dangerous.
Greek Banks Face $15.9 Billion Bill After Economic Debacle (Bloomberg) Greece’s four main banks must raise 14.4 billion euros ($15.9 billion) in fresh capital, the European Central Bank said, as investors and taxpayers face the cost of repairing the damage from six months of wrangling between the nation’s government and its creditors. The amounts involved are reported to be less than some had feared and private sector funding is felt likely sufficient. Econintersect: We did see the word “bail-in” in this article but it was not clear if that referred to depositors. A “bail-in” often refers to the conversion of deposits into equity positions in a bank. This can greatly reduce the financial position of a depositor because what had previously been completely liquid (could be withdrawn upon demand) becomes liquid only though trading in a secondary market – which can take place at a deep discount to nominal value, if any buyers at all can be found.
Sweden
Racist murder sparks Sweden’s Black Lives Matter (Al Jazeera) On Oct. 23, 2015, Anton Lundin Pettersson walked into the Kronan School in Trollhattan, Sweden, and murdered a teaching assistant and a student with a sword. This was at a school made up primarily of students with immigrant backgrounds at a time of heightened ethnic tension in Sweden committed by a killer with far-right sympathies who purposefully targeted people of color. As a result, many Swedes have challenged the notion of an attack on the national collective: This was not, in fact, an attack on all of Sweden but on a specific section of Sweden singled out because of a racist ideology. For the reaction to this see Vitt hyckleri (White Hypocracy) – in Swedish.
Turkey
Turkey election: Erdogan’s AK Party seeks majority (BBC News) Turks are going to the polls in parliamentary elections for the second time in five months. The AK Party, formed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, failed to retain its majority in June’s poll. Attempts to form a coalition government since then have proved unsuccessful. Security is the key issue in the election after weeks of violence involving Kurdish militants and bomb attacks blamed on the Islamic State (IS) group. Mr Erdogan has promised a return to stability if his party wins a majority.
Egypt
Officials search for cause of plane crash over Egypt’s Sinai (Associated Press) A Russian passenger airliner crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula 23 minutes after taking off from a popular Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board, including 25 children, mostly Russians. The cause of the crash was not known, but a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group claimed it “brought down” the aircraft. Russia’s transport minister dismissed that claim as not credible.
Syria
Turkish, U.S. air strikes kill more than 50 Islamic State militants in Syria: agency (Reuters) Air strikes by Turkish and U.S. aircraft in Syria on Saturday killed more than 50 Islamic State militants and wounded around 30, state-run Anadolu Agency quoted security sources as saying on Sunday. A senior government official told Reuters on Saturday that Turkish jets had bombed Islamic State targets in Syria, just before Turks prepared to vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election.
Bangladesh
Blogger killed in Bangladesh, three others wounded, police say (CNN) Another secular blogger was hacked to death and three other people were severely wounded in two separate attacks in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday, Dhaka police said. Publisher and secular blogger Faisal Arefin Dipan was killed in Shahbagh area while three others, also publishers and bloggers, were hacked and shot in Lalmatia area. Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, claimed responsibility for the assaults, saying Dipan and the others made derogatory remarks about the Muslim faith. See Extremists publish hit list of bloggers and writers.
China
China’s October factory, services surveys show economy still wobbly (Reuters) Activity in China’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in October for a third straight month, an official survey showed on Sunday, fuelling fears the economy may still be losing momentum in the fourth quarter despite a raft of stimulus measures. Adding to those concerns, China’s services sector, which has been one of the few bright spots in the economy, also showed signs of cooling last month, expanding at its slowest pace in nearly seven years. As the first major indicators of business conditions in China released each month, the PMIs reinforced the view that the economy remains in the midst of a gradual slowdown which will require Beijing to roll out more support in coming months.
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