Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 26 February 2018
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, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 notch gains after Wall Street rallies; Geely pops 8.4% (CNBC) Asian markets rose on Monday, tracking gains seen on Wall Street as U.S. bond yields receded from recent four-year highs. Meanwhile, the dollar slipped against a basket of currencies and investors await a testimony from the new Federal Reserve chair. The dollar index slipped to trade at 89.767 at 12:33 p.m. HK/SIN. U.S. crude futures rose 0.38% to trade at $63.79 per barrel and Brent crude futures added 0.24% to trade at $67.47. Spot gold rose 0.1% at $1,330.59 an ounce at 0118 GMT.
- U.S. takes 4th place as Winter Olympics come to a close (Axios) The final standings: Norway dominated the games, earning 39 medals, including 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze. Germany took second place, and Canada third. The United States’ 23 medals in fourth place include 9 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze. Among the U.S. medals was a historic gold in cross country skiing for the team of Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins who won only the second medal in that discipline in history. Bill Koch won a silver medal in 1976. See Winter Olympics 2018: U.S. women win historic gold medal in cross-country skiing (CBS Sports).
U.S.
- House Intel Dems release countermemo (The Hill) See also White House: Dem memo ‘fails to answer serious concerns’ raised by Nunes. House Intelligence Committee Democrats have released their memo countering the GOP document that alleged surveillance abuses in the Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI. The 10-page Democratic memo, authored by Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the committee, was made public after President Trump declassified a four-page Republican memo last month alleging that officials at the FBI and DOJ had abused their powers to spy on a Trump campaign official.
The memo charges that committee Republicans were wrong to assert that an FBI investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia resulted from the creation of the so-called Steele dossier of unverified claims about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Also in the document, which includes heavy redactions throughout, is the claim that FBI fact-finding contradicted former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page’s sworn testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.
- Text of Released Democratic Memo (assets.bwbx.io) This is the complete document, with redactions. You can also read the full memo at GEI: The Minority Letter From The House Intelligence Committee as well as the Nunes memo: The Nunes Letter.
- 5 Takeaways From the Release of the Democratic Memo (The New York Times) Here are some key takeaways from the Democratic memo:
- The F.B.I. used only a small part of the information provided by Mr. Steele.
- The surveillance court knew that Mr. Steele’s clients had a political motive.
- The Yahoo News article was not used to corroborate Mr. Steele.
- Republican-appointed judges approved the surveillance of Mr. Page.
- The wiretap of Mr. Page generated useful intelligence (but just what that was, was redacted.
- Trump tweets CPAC straw poll showing favorable approval rating (The Hill) President Trump on Saturday tweeted the results of a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll asking attendees of the conservative conference what they thought of Trump’s job performance. In the tweet, Trump praised news that 93 percent of CPAC attendees approved of his performance in the White House, while noting that 79 percent want the GOP-held House and Senate to do a better job of working with the president. Trump tweeted:
“BIG CPAC STRAW POLL RESULTS: 93% APPROVE OF THE JOB PRESIDENT TRUMP IS DOING (Thank you!). 50% say President Trump should Tweet MORE or SAME (funny!). 79% say Republicans in Congress should do a better job of working with President Trump (starting to happen).”
- Senate pivots to stopgap ‘Dreamers’ deal (The Hill) The Senate is weighing a short-term fix for “Dreamers” as lawmakers struggle to break a stalemate that has stalled the chamber’s debate. The hunt for a fallback option comes ahead of the March 5 deadline created by President Trump’s decision to end the immigration program and amid fresh questions about what, if anything, can clear Congress and win over the White House. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is in talks with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) about a plan to tie a three-year extension of protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients with roughly $7.6 billion in border security.
- Exclusive: Trump privately talks up executing all big drug dealers (Axios) In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for drug trafficking offenses. And President Trump loves it. He’s been telling friends for months that the country’s policy to execute drug traffickers is the reason its drug consumption rates are so low.
EU
- Eurozone Trade Surplus With the U.S. (The Daily Shot) Will we see a further increase in the Eurozone’s trade surplus with the US? How will the White House react?
Iran
- Iranian regime stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea (The Hill) The regime in Tehran enters its 40th year facing several different crises. The fundamental pillars upon which the theocracy is established are export of terrorism and domestic repression. This Op Ed asserts:
Since the Iran-Iraq War, the West has pursued a failed policy of appeasement toward Iran in order to mitigate the threat from the regime. This includes a series of mistakes such as the Iran-Contra scandal, the designation of Iran’s main democratic opposition, the MEK, as a terrorist organization, handing Iraq to Shiite clerics on a silver platter and lastly, the catastrophic nuclear agreement better known as the JCPOA.
Today, political and economic impasse have caused the supreme leader to lose clout over the repressive forces under his control.
The reality is that the recent uprising opened a new chapter of possible policies towards Iran. Currently, Iranians who are forced to live under the poverty line and western governments both know why the regime is more rapidly becoming vulnerable. The Iranian people are up in arms against the systematic corruption that has crippled the economy and rubbed ordinary citizens of their lifesaving.
Canada
- Canada’s Youth Participation Rates (The Daily Shot) This chart shows Canada’s youth labor-force participation rates by province.
Mexico
- Mexico Has Strong Regional Dependencies of Trade with the U.S. (The Daily Shot) Here is how much of Mexico’s regional GDP is dependent on US trade.
- Mexican President Visit to White House Called Off (Washington Post, Twitter)
