Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 03 July 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 stumble as China extends declines amid trade tensions (CNBC) Asian stocks traded mostly lower on Tuesday, with greater China markets extending their declines as investor worries over Beijing’s trade relations with the U.S. soured sentiment in the region. The dollar index traded up at 94.925 at 11:24 a.m. Brent crude oil futures were at $78.06 per barrel at 0112 GMT, up $0.76 cents (1%). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $0.75 cents, or 1%, at $74.69. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,239.63 an ounce as of 0342 GMT
U.S.
- Trump just keeps on confounding his hapless detractors (The Hill) A Trump supporter sees the president being successful against unjustified attacks:
The left, much of the media and countless other opponents of President Trump have led a relentless, vicious, multi-pronged and often dishonest assault on him and his agenda since he first emerged as a presidential candidate in 2015. This assault, ramped up significantly during his presidency, has taken many forms: an apparently endless special counsel investigation, constant protests, bureaucratic stonewalling, “Deep State” leaking, continuous lawsuits, manufactured crises and outrage, daily media pounding and often false reporting, smears, personal attacks and abusive, even violent acts targeting his staff and supporters – all designed to cripple his ability to govern effectively.
While Trump’s adversaries have been busy trying to execute their rolling putsch, however, the American people have been busy doing something else: supporting him and his policies. Instead of denting Trump, the perpetual outrage machine is creating the exact opposite dynamic.
- Federal court orders ICE to STOP the ‘indefinite detention’ of immigrants – and tells government to immediately release or grant hearings to more than 1,000 long-term asylum seekers (Daily Mail) A federal judge on Monday determined that the US government is violating its own rules regarding the treatment of people seeking asylum. Judge James Boasberg issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to stop what opponents called the arbitrary detention of legitimate asylum seekers.
- Comes after almost no major ICE offices granted parole to asylum immigrants
- Those denied parole are detained, including one Haiti teacher for last 18 months
- Judge has ordered a case-by-case review of all asylum seekers awaiting parole
- Trump Jr: Jeanine Pirro on Supreme Court ‘would be pretty awesome’ (The Hill) The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. said on Wednesday that the idea of Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro succeeding Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy would be “pretty awesome.”
- How Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Could Undo Kennedy’s Legacy (The New Yorker) Upon Justice Kennedy’s retirement, the President is unlikely to nominate a moderate. This article discusses “what rulings would a brazen conservative majority produce”?
The whole purpose of Trump’s Supreme Court selection process has been to eliminate the possibility of nominating someone who might commit Kennedy’s perfidies of moderation. The activists from the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation who supplied the President’s list of twenty-five prospective nominees are determined to tear down the monuments, on select issues, that Kennedy has built. Their labors have already produced one soaring success, in the confirmation, last year, of Neil Gorsuch. His extremism has exceeded that of his predecessor Antonin Scalia and equalled that of his colleague Clarence Thomas, the Justice with whom he has voted most often.
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said shorted shares in Air Lease and Ocwen Financial Corporation.
- These are in addition to the short sale of three other stocks that were previously disclosed, for a total of five short sales that Ross executed as Commerce secretary.
- A legendary investor who made his fortune in distressed assets, Ross came into office in early 2017 with a long, complicated list of financial holdings.
- News outlets have reportedly paid Melania Trump thousands for photos of her for ‘positive stories only’ since inauguration (New York Daily News) While her husband has used his presidential pulpit to attack media outlets, Melania Trump has earned upwards of $1 million by indirectly selling photos of herself to them. Revelations that the First Lady had earned between $100,000 and $1 million in royalties from photo agency Getty Images in 2017 were first outlined in President Trump’s financial disclosure forms released in May. The royalty earnings raised eyebrows as the White House refused to clarify what they were for, or specify the exact dollar amount earned by the First Lady.
But a review conducted by NBC News reveals a significant chunk of Melania Trump’s royalty income came from news organizations who bought rights to photos of her family taken by Belgian photographer Regine Mahuax.
Such lucrative royalty agreements are not unusual for celebrities, but it’s highly uncommon for a First Lady especially since her contract stipulates photos be used in “positive stories only.”
- A speechless Scott Pruitt is accosted in a DC restaurant by a mom holding her young son (Daily Mail) This is why Trump administration people will have to stop eating in restaurants. Kristin Mink walked up to EPA chief Scott Pruitt with her two-year-old son in her arms and told Pruitt: ‘This is my son, he loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water.’ She mentioned the politician’s $50 a night apartment deal with an energy lobbying firm and his plan to roll back vehicle emissions standards.
UK
- Theresa May’s as opaque as the glass in an old municipal lavatory: QUENTIN LETTS on yesterday in Parliament (Daily Mail) If you are having difficulty understanding what is going on woth Brexit. Read this. Then you will understand the process and status is not understandable. Charles Dickens couldn’t have devised a better plot for a novel. Say nothing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Libya
- Migrant crisis: Many missing after boat disaster off Libya (BBC) This seems to be happening multiple times each week. Dozens of migrants are missing after a rubber boat they were on sank off the coast of Libya, local officials say. One official is quoted as saying 63 migrants have disappeared after Sunday’s incident east of Tripoli, while 41 people have been rescued. About 170 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea since Friday.
Yemen
- Yemen’s spiraling hunger crisis is a man-made disaster (PBS News Hour) There are 18 million in Yemen that will be in famine by the end of thius year. Most of the children among them will not survive the winter.
India
- India Defies Washington, Will Acquire Russian S-400 Missile Shield (Zero Hedge) Washington’s so-called allies continue to gravitate towards the Russian sphere of influence, and specifically the Russian S-400 Triumph advanced anti-aircraft weapon system. First it was Turkey, which openly defied Trump’s threats that the US would sanction Ankara if it completes the purchase of the anti-aircraft missiles, saying the acquisition of the missile defense system is “a done deal and Turkey will not turn back from its decision“. Now India is also moving towards acquiring five or more S-400 from Russia despite the threat of US retaliation.
North Korea
- Chinese Investors Call For Surveillance Cameras in Joint Ventures With North Korea (Radio Free Asia) Chinese investors say CCTV systems are necessary at their companies in North Korea to prevent thefts which drain the companies and can drive them out of business.
China
- Dozens of Uyghur Children of Xinjiang Village Camp Detainees Sent to Live in Orphanages (Radio Free Asia) See also Uyghur Exile Group Leader’s Mother Died in Xinjiang Detention Center. Dozens of Uyghur children from a mostly Uyghur-populated village in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) whose parents or guardians have been detained in “political re-education camps” have been sent to live in orphanages, according to sources.
Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” views have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout the XUAR, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.
- China Locks Up, Tortures Muslims in ‘Re-education Camps’ (Radio Free Asia) Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang are detaining Muslim ethnic minorities en masse and subjecting them to torture and brainwashing to honor the ruling Chinese Communist Party and renounce the tenets of their faith, rights groups warned on Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) China researcher Maya Wang told RFA on Wednesday:
“The authorities force the detainees to accept this so-called education, which is political indoctrination. Before they eat, they have to wish [President] Xi Jinping good health, or thank the government and thank the party, before they are allowed to eat anything. They are forced to study Chinese characters, and anyone who challenges this arbitrary detention is punished, some physically, some by being locked up in isolation with no food or water,”
- Communication breakdown (Reuters) A U.S. setback for China Mobile could set a precedent. The Chinese telecoms operator’s application to offer international calls from America is likely to be rejected, after seven years mouldering in the Federal Communications Commission’s inbox. With a unit of the Commerce Department recommending an FCC veto based on security concerns, a campaign to cramp Beijing’s ability to monitor overseas traffic from Chinese companies and individuals could be getting underway.
The $180 billion carrier makes almost all of its money inside the People’s Republic, and most of that from data. So China Mobile’s inability to win a so-called Section 214 licence will be financially negligible. However, there are broader implications.
As more Chinese individuals and companies move overseas, the Communist Party has intensified efforts to keep them in line. That’s easier if communications pass through Chinese-owned networks.
- Chinese Yuan Suddenly Tumbles (Zero Hedge) Whether or not the PBOC finally decided to show the US it means business with the “weaponized” Yuan, but moments after today’s PBOC yuan fixing, which dropped against the dollar by a whopping 340 pips to 6.6497 from 6.6157 – which was slightly lower (i.e. stronger) than expected – the offshore yuan tumbled with the selloff accelerating as the currency took out one large figure after another, eventually crossing what until now had been seen as a key support level at 6.70, then quickly shooting lower and dropping as low as 6.73. The size of the moves in the chart below are “unheard of”.
- China’s Markets Continue Down (Twitter)
Mexico
- A change is coming to US-Mexico relations (The Hill) The winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Mexico is poised to bring profound changes to the country’s relationship with the U.S., at a time when the two nations find themselves increasingly at odds over President Trump’s policies.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known colloquially as AMLO, campaigned on a radical anti-corruption ticket. But his campaign approach to U.S.-Mexico relations was in many ways similar to that of his opponents, as Trump and his policies remain deeply unpopular across Mexico’s political spectrum.
