Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 30 March 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
- Japan, South Korea and China trade higher as other Asian markets remain shut (CNBC) Markets in Asia traded higher on Friday for the last trading day of the quarter, following a rally in U.S. stocks overnight. But trading volume is set to be thin as many markets in the region, including Australia, Singapore, India and Indonesia, are closed for the Good Friday public holiday. The dollar index traded up at 89.960 at 2:38 p.m. HK/SIN, slipping from an earlier high of 90.118. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished Thursday’s session up $0.56 at $64.94 a barrel. June Brent crude futures was up $0.57 at $69.33 a barrel by 2:27 p.m. ET. Spot gold was up 0.06% at $1,325.44 per ounce by 3:54 p.m. EST, after hitting a low of $1,322.50 earlier in the session, its lowest since March 21. U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled down $2.70, or 0.2%, at $1,327.30 per ounce.
U.S.
- Sessions declines to appoint second special counsel (The Hill) Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed in a letter to lawmakers Thursday that he had declined to name a second special counsel to investigate allegations of surveillance abuse within the Department of Justice (DOJ), despite pressure from the Republican Party for him to do so. In his letter to GOP committee chairmen Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Bob Goodlatte (Va.) and Trey Gowdy (S.C.), Sessions said the appointment of a special counsel only occurs under “the most ‘extraordinary circumstances.’ “
He said he had named a federal prosecutor in Utah, John Huber, to lead the investigation into Republicans’ allegations that the FBI and DOJ abused a surveillance program against a former Trump campaign aide.
- Pardon Talk Could Put Trump Lawyer in Hot Water (Bloomberg) If John Dowd discussed the possibility of a presidential pardon with lawyers for Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort while Dowd was serving as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, it’s a big deal — definitely for Dowd, and conceivably for Trump. The president has the inherent power to pardon anyone he wants. But doing so with a corrupt reason — such as saving the president’s skin — would be obstruction of justice.
- US to require would-be immigrants to turn over social media handles (CNN) The Trump administration plans to require immigrants applying to come to the United States to submit five years of social media history, it announced Thursday, setting up a potential scouring of their Twitter and Facebook histories.
The move follows the administration’s emphasis on “extreme vetting” of would-be immigrants to the US, and is an extension of efforts by the previous administration to more closely scrutinize social media after the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
- Carter Page says FBI asked about RNC meeting with Russian envoy (The Hill) Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign, acknowledged on Thursday that he spoke with FBI investigators asking about whether he met with Russia’s ambassador on the sidelines of the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC). Page’s comments came hours after Reuters reported that investigators on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team have been questioning witnesses about interactions with Russians during an event on the sidelines of the RNC.
That event was attended by then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was a senator from Alabama at the time.
Page reportedly met with Kislyak during the convention, though he has not publicly confirmed or denied the encounter.
- Walmart Is in Early Talks to Buy Health Insurer Humana: WSJ (Think Advisor) Is this the start of a healthcare retailing war featuring Wal-Mart and Amazon at the head of the pack? The details of the discussions aren’t clear, and a deal may fall through, the Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Humana, valued at about $37 billion, would be Walmart’s largest deal on record. Walmart declined to comment to Bloomberg News, while Humana didn’t immediately respond.
- Another Renewable Energy Basher and Koch Network Alum Joins Trump’s Department of Energy (DeSmog) Until February, Christine Harbin spent much of this decade fighting against state and federal clean energy initiatives for organizations with close ties to the petrochemical billionaire Koch brothers. Now, however, she has joined the Trump administration as a senior adviser for external affairs in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, which deals primarily with the electricity grid.
Before joining a number of other Koch network alum in the Trump administration, Harbin served as vice president of external affairs at Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-funded group with nearly three dozen active state chapters pushing for conservative legislation at the state and national levels. She had worked for Americans for Prosperity since 2012.
- Exclusive: Under Trump, prosecutors fight reprieves for people facing deportation (Reuters) The Trump administration has sharply curtailed a once-common practice of granting long-term reprieves to immigrants targeted for deportation, a Reuters analysis of court records shows, adding to an already huge backlog of cases in U.S. immigration courts.
- Trump’s very small (and shrinking) inner circle (CNN) President Donald Trump promised during the campaign to stock his White House with “the best people in the world” — but it’s turning out more like “the best people in the immediate circle of people who I directly know“.
How else can you explain that within the last month or so, we’ve heard reports that Trump wanted to install his personal pilot as head of the FAA (although that report has yet come true) and then this week he installed his doctor as head of the VA?
- Who has left Trump’s administration and orbit? (CNN) President Donald Trump’s administration has been marked by a series of exits from high-ranking officials. Appointments expected to last for years have only made it a matter of days, ending in chaotic departures. An analysis of the rate of departures by the Brookings Institution found that Trump’s staff turnover is higher than the five previous presidents. Below is a list of the notable exits and how long they lasted:
UK
- The daughter of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is getting better after spending three weeks in a critical condition due to a nerve toxin attack.
- Russia has denied using Novichok, a nerve agent first developed by the Soviet military, to attack the Skripals.
Iran
- Iran nuclear deal ‘won’t outlast Trump’s first term’ in office (CNBC) The Iranian nuclear deal has looked very fragile since the election of Donald Trump in November 2016 but, so far, the U.S. president has been persuaded to leave the agreement alone. That position is not likely to last much longer, according to political consultancy Eurasia Group, which predicted the agreement is very unlikely “to survive President Donald Trump’s first term in office“.
The Iranian nuclear deal, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was struck in 2015 between Iran and China, the U.S., U.K., Russia, France and Germany. It was designed to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the deal, however, opposing terms that would allow Iran to gradually reinstate its nuclear activities (the so-called “sunset clauses”) and accusing Iran of violating the terms of the agreement.
India
- Government To Sell 76% Stake In Air India, Give Up Management Control (NDTV) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. The government today took the first step towards divesting Air India — the debt-ridden national carrier supported for years by public money — triggering vehement protests from opposition. The plan is to transfer management control along with 76% equity, for which an expression of Interest was released and multinational consultancy firm Ernst & Young was appointed as the advisor. The divestment will be done through open, competitive bidding.
- Israeli national carrier petitions High Court against new Air India route (Business Standard) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni. Air India has initiated direct flights from New Delhi to Tel Aviv. El Al has sued to stop them.
“El Al argues that allowing Air India to cross over airspace that is closed to Israeli-owned airlines violated articles 9 and 11 of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, as well as various Israeli government decisions.”
South Korea
- Trump says may hold up South Korea trade deal until after deal with North Korea (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he may hold up a trade agreement reached this week with South Korea until after a deal is reached with North Korea on denuclearization.
- Trump’s U.S.-South Korea ‘Great Deal’ Isn’t Much Different From the Existing One (Bloomberg) President Donald Trump is hailing the revised U.S. free trade agreement with South Korea as a “great deal” and a critical first step toward more favorable treatment of American products around the world.
Yet the revamped U.S.-South Korea accord unveiled earlier this week isn’t much different from the existing pact that Trump often condemned as “disastrous.” Most changes made to tariffs, automotive quotas and agricultural preferences were narrow in scope or incremental, according to trade experts.
China
- US Prices Most Affected by Proposed Tariffs on Goods from China (The Dauily Shot) How much will a broad tariff on Chinese imports impact prices of domestically produced consumer products? Here is the breakdown by sector.
