Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 25 September 2017
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.
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Global
- Asian shares mixed as investors track German, New Zealand election results (CNBC) Major Asian indexes were mixed in Monday trade as investors digested elections in Germany and New Zealand over the weekend. The dollar index was up 0.1% at 92.255. Brent crude slipped 0.11% to trade at $56.80 a barrel and U.S. crude edged down 0.26% to $50.53. Spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,293.35 per ounce at 0418 GMT.
- The Climate Catastrophe We’re All Ignoring (EcoWatch) Yes the Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes this year have dealt record amounts of wind, rain and property damage, but you may not be aware that there has also been unprecedented flooding in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Nigeria, Niger, Congo, Sierra Leone and Uganda. In Bangladesh an estimated 40 million people have been affected by massive flooding, with more than 1,200 deaths. More than one third of Bangladesh’s land mass has been submerged.
- India is a top source and destination for world’s migrants (Pew Research Center) India has a long history of migration. More than a century ago, large numbers of Indian migrants – many of them involuntary ones – moved to Africa, the Caribbean and within the Indian subcontinent itself. Some of the top destinations of Indian migrants in more recent decades include Persian Gulf countries, North America and Europe. Here are five facts about India and migration.
- India is the top source of international migrants, with one-in-twenty migrants worldwide born in India.
- India is also one of the world’s top destinations for international migrants.
- India has one of the world’s lowest emigration rates.
- India receives more remittances from migrants than any other country.
- India’s religious minorities have been more likely to migrate internationally.
U.S.
- Trump announces new travel restrictions on 8 countries (The Hill) President Trump is replacing his controversial travel ban with a targeted list of restrictions that will enhance vetting for nationals from eight countries, senior administration officials announced Sunday. The eight countries on the modified list of countries are Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
The officials say these states failed to comply with the U.S. information-sharing requirements that aim to make vetting processes stronger.
Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia are part of the president’s initial travel ban, and it has removed its restrictions on Sudan.
Four additional countries have been added to the list of states that do not meet the new American vetting requirements: Iraq, North Korea, Chad and Venezuela.
- New York’s Andrew Cuomo issues pointed call for Puerto Rico relief, says put divisions aside (CNBC) (Econintersect: Playing politics? Perhaps, but this looks like a “gimme”.) A delegation of U.S. elected officials is headed to Washington D.C. to urge the federal government to give Puerto Rico the same level of assistance and urgency that it gave to help Texas and Florida in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference on Sunday at New York’s Javits Center:
“This is going to be a long hard road for Puerto Rico and this is a situation that will require billions of dollars in assistance, and that will have to be done by the federal government.”
- Republican health care bill revised to target key votes (CNN) As the Republican Party’s last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare hangs by a thread, a revised version of the Graham-Cassidy bill was circulated to Senate Republicans on Sunday with the aim of winning over key votes.
Even with the new changes, the task ahead is daunting. GOP Sens. Rand Paul and John McCain have already publicly opposed the bill, and leadership can’t afford to lose one more. Plenty of others, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have made known their deep reservations — Collins went as far as to say on CNN Sunday morning that it was “very difficult” for her to envision getting to a “yes.”
And time is ticking. The vehicle that Republicans are using that allows them to advance a bill without any Democratic support is set to expire at the end of September, making the next several days critical.
- Hurricane Maria is moving up US East Coast and some areas are issuing storm watches (CNBC) Hurricane Maria moved up the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, bringing storm and surge watches for part of the North Carolina Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. After laying waste to the Caribbean and plunging Puerto Rico into darkness and turmoil, the storm is set to make its presence known on parts of the eastern seaboard. Sig Silber is publishing frequent updates, the latest is Out to Sea but is the Track Forecast Reliable? – 25Sep2017.
- Protests sweep NFL as Trump doubles down on criticism (The Hill) Players across the National Football League (NFL) on Sunday demonstrated in the wake of President Trump’s attack on athletes kneeling during the national anthem. The Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins closed off the day of protests, with nearly every Raiders player remaining on the bench during the opening anthem. Redskins owner Dan Snyder, meanwhile, stood arm in arm with some players on his team as others knelt. Throughout the day, other teams showed their defiance against a president who on Friday said players who knelt during the anthem should be removed from the field.
- New York City Aims To Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Using Energy Storage (Forbes) A newly released study claims to demonstrate that NYC can meet its clean energy goals of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by increasing use of green energy and energy storage to achieve ‘load balancing’. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the results is that energy costs will be reduced in the process.
- Climate Change Impacts in the United States (The Big Picture)
UK
- Why a ‘guest worker’ visa system is not the answer for Britain after Brexit (The Conversation) One opinion poll from July 2017 found that a majority of Leave voters support maintaining free movement after Brexit if it is explained as a set of rights giving UK citizens the chance to live in other EU states. This suggests politicians who have the confidence to combine supporting EU free movement with a new agenda for social rights in the UK labour market may not suffer at the polls. Alternative systems of time-limited and employee-sponsored visas risk further eroding the bargaining power of migrant workers. And this could have negative knock-on effects for all workers in the UK.
- Theresa May is dragging Britain off a Brexit cliff edge (CNN) British Prime Minister Theresa May gave a foreign policy speech Friday that revolved around divisions within her own Cabinet. Facing demands to side with the pragmatists — who favor what is often referred to as a soft Brexit — or the ideologues in her Cabinet, she opted to split the difference.
An unkind observer — and there are a lot of unkind observers of Britain across the EU at the moment — would conclude that the British want everything about the EU, except European people. This is not a constructive basis for negotiations, but it is also the most conciliatory position May can get past her own party. Faced with a choice of an economic cliff, or a leadership challenge, she is taking the country toward the cliff.
Germany
- Angela Merkel wins a fourth term in office – but it won’t be an easy one (The Conversation) Angela Merkel will continue as chancellor of Germany. But following an election that saw the rise of smaller parties – most notably the far right – her fourth term will probably be an eventful one in ways she would not wish for. The Union parties (Merkel’s CDU and sister party CSU) finished in top place with just under 33%. They did nevertheless lose almost 9% over their previous election result of 2013. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), coalition partner to the Union parties, finished a distant second, with just over 20% of the vote. For the SPD, this is a historic low: almost 6% down on the last election. Party leader Martin Schulz failed to come up to scratch in a lacklustre campaign.
Four smaller parties have managed to meet the 5% threshold to qualify for seats in parliament.
The right-wing populist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), achieved a dubious milestone in post-war German history. With a vote share of 12.5%, it will be the first overtly far-right nationalist party to enter the federal parliament.
North Korea
- Tighter sanctions on North Korea could have a harsh humanitarian impact (The Conversation) If there are fuel and food shortages in North Korea as a redult of tighter sanctions, it won’t be the government or the miltary starving or freezing to death.
- Nuclear war isn’t North Korea’s only threat (CNN) North Korea has invested heavily in cyberattack operations to disrupt its Western enemies. Western Intelligence services blamed the 2014 attack against Sony on North Korea’s spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. North Korea is also believed to be responsible for the cyber heist at Bangladesh’s central bank and the global WannaCry ransomware attack from earlier this year.
Pyongyang’s cyberspies conduct low-cost, high-impact, deniable attacks around the world to harm enemies, disrupt the West and steal money. Financial institutions are particularly at risk of theft as North Korea bleeds funds to support its nuclear program.
The goal for North Korea’s cyberattack operations, beyond flying under the radar, is to inflict death by a thousand cuts — a deliberate and organized disrupt-and-attack approach in line with the country’s national strategy. Arguably, the more money and resources North Korea can steal via cyberattacks, the stronger its kinetic military can become.
