Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 July 2016
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
Einstein Never Knew He’d Help Shell Discover Oil (Bloomberg) Two physicists in Amsterdam have started a company betting they can use gravitational wave sensors to locate oil. Their company, Innoseis, has a prototype sensor that looks like a tiny box sitting on a golf tee. If it works it will only cost 10% or so of the current exploratory technology – or allow much more area to be explored for the same price.
U.S.
U.S. military veteran believed to be lone gunman in Dallas police ambush (Reuters) A black U.S. military veteran of the Afghan war who said he wanted to “kill white people” acted alone in a sniper attack that killed five police officers during a Dallas protest decrying police shootings of black men, officials said on Friday. Seven other police officers and two civilians were wounded in the ambush in downtown Dallas on Thursday night, officials said. Police killed the gunman, identified by authorities as 25-year-old Micah Johnson, with a bomb-carrying robot after cornering him in a parking garage, ending an hours-long standoff. A search of Johnson’s home in the nearby suburb of Mesquite found “bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics,” Dallas police said in a report on Friday. Police said Johnson had no previous criminal history. Dallas Mayor Michael Rawlings said Johnson had written “manifestos” on military-style tactics, and social media postings left by Johnson showed he subscribed to a militant black nationalist ideology.
Hillary Clinton Rejects F.B.I. Claim That She Was ‘Careless’ With Emails (The New York Times, MSN News) Hillary Clinton on Friday rejected the F.B.I.’s assertion that she had been “extremely careless” with classified material as secretary of state, offering her first public comments on the matter since the Justice Department closed its inquiry without bringing charges against her this week. In interviews on CNN and MSNBC, Mrs. Clinton tried to put the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server to rest, brushing off a rebuke from James Comey, the F.B.I. director, who had criticized her for being negligent. She said:
“I think there are about 300 people in the government, mostly in the State Department, but in other high positions in the government with whom I emailed over the course of four years – they, I believe, did not believe they were sending any material that was classified. They were pursuing their responsibilities. I do not think they were careless. And as I have said many times, I certainly did not believe that I received or sent any material that was classified.”
Does Clinton’s pass from Comey indicate the dawn of an American banana republic? (AgainstCronyCapitalism.org) This column suggests that The FBI action (or failure to act) in the case of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails is a comparable miscarriage to the failure to prosecute Wall Street bank executives for fraud after the Great Financial Crisis. And then:
There is a sense in the country now that there are rules for the rulers and rules for the rabble, and that the “rulers” don’t even have to hide it now.
…
The rule of law is a special thing. It helps people feel secure in their property and in their lives. When the rule of law is replaced by the rule of man commerce dries up, investment dries up, and societal instability bubbles up. This is the legacy of the world’s “banana republics.” Strife, poverty, insecurity.
Green party’s Jill Stein invites Bernie Sanders to take over ticket (The Guardian) Bernie Sanders has been invited to continue his underdog bid for the White House by the Green party’s probable presidential candidate, who has offered to step aside to let him run. Jill Stein, who is expected to be endorsed at the party’s August convention in Houston, told Guardian US that “overwhelming” numbers of Sanders supporters are flocking to the Greens rather than Hillary Clinton.
GOP Lobbyist Backs ‘Free the Delegates’ After Butting Heads with Trump (Roll Call, MSN News) Lobbyist Jack Burkman Friday is scheduled to open up his Northern Virginia home to what he says is a mounting number of Republican loyalists eager to bankroll a last-minute challenge to presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Burkman is now throwing his support behind “Free The Delegates,” a counter effort interested in liberating political operatives attending the upcoming convention from strictly adhering to the outcome of their state primaries.
NYSE Margin Debt Decreased in May (Doug Short, Advisor Perspectives) The NYSE margin debt data is a few weeks old when it is published. The latest debt level is down 1.0% month-over-month following two months of increases and still off its interim low in February. This metric remains well below its record high set in April of last year. Here is an overlay of margin debt and the S&P 500 adjusted for inflation. In nominal terms, the S&P 500 peaked on May 21st of last year. The monthly close peak, adjusted for inflation was three months earlier in February.
Click for larger image at Advisor Perspectives dshort.com.
UK
The bank overdrafts that cost more than a payday loan (The Telegraph) Think Payday loans at outrageous annualized rates is scandalous? Well, “borrowing” £100 from some high street banks costs four times as much as lending from a payday loan company, a Which? report has found. An unarranged small overdraft from a London bank can cost more than a loan gouger in a dirty storefront.
Greece
Nato’s united front under threat after Greece signs arms deal with Russia (The Telegraph) Senior NATO officials have raised concerns that attempts by Greece to forge a defense pact with Moscow could seriously undermine efforts to present a united front against further acts of Russian aggression. NATO’s concerns relate to last month’s announcement by Panos Kammenos, the Greek defense minister, when he unveiled a new partnership with Russia to manufacture Kalashnikov rifles. The Greek government says the deal is vital to prevent the collapse of the country’s defense industry. But in order for the deal to go ahead Moscow is insisting that Greece must first persuade its NATO partners in Europe to lift the economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia
US expelled two Russian officials in response to attack on diplomat (The Guardian) State Department says move was response to an attack on a US diplomat by a Russian police officer in Moscow last month. The officials were expelled 17 June, department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He didn’t immediately provide additional information. Kirby said the American was attacked 6 June by a Russian guard outside the US embassy compound. Kirby said the attack was “unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee“. The Russian foreign ministry claims the American was a CIA agent and he refused to provide his identification documents. Moscow says the police officer was fulfilling his duties defending the embassy. Below is the surveillance video of the incident at an entrance to the U.S. embassy in Moscow, shown in ‘What We Read Today’ 07 July:
North Korea
North Korea fires missile from submarine but it appears to have failed: South Korea (Reuters) North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Saturday but the launch appears to have failed in the early stages of flight, South Korea’s military said. The launch comes a day after the U.S. and South Korea pledged to deploy an anti-missile system to counter threats from Pyongyang, and two days after North Korea warned it was planning its toughest response to what it deemed a “declaration of war” by the United States. That followed Washington’s blacklisting of the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un for alleged human rights abuses.
China
China braces as super typhoon Nepartak kills three in Taiwan (The Guardian) Severe rain and wind brought by super typhoon Nepartak has killed at least three people and injured more than 140 in Taiwan, authorities say, while in China 37,000 people on the east coast have been evacuated and flights and trains cancelled. A total of 37,521 people have been relocated in the Chinese coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province as winds on the sea are affected by Nepartak, this year’s first typhoon. Winds as the storm crossed Taiwan reached over 230 km (143 miles) per hour. See next article.
Taiwan
Super typhoon Nepartak causes devastation across Taiwan’s coastline (The Guardian) Super typhoon Nepartak slammed into the east coast of Taiwan on Friday morning, overturning cars, forcing thousaLone Gunman in Dallas,nds from their homes and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Taiwan’s first major tropical storm of the season made landfall at about 5.50am in the eastern county of Taitung with winds of 234km/h (145mph) reportedly lashing the region.