Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 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 stocks advance as tariffs take a backseat; China rallies (CNBC) Asian shares closed higher on Monday, taking cues from Wall Street’s advance following the release of strong employment data for the month of June. Meanwhile, investors continued to keep an eye on trade after the U.S. and China exchanged tariffs last week. The dollar was broadly softer, with the dollar index at 93.839 at 3:02 p.m. HK/SIN. Global benchmark Brent rose $0.37(0.5%) to $77.48 a barrel by 0305 GMT. U.S. crude futures added $0.29, or 0.4%, to $74.09. Spot gold was 0.2% higher at $1,256.85 an ounce at 0055 GMT.
- U.S. Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution Stuns World Health Officials (The New York Times) A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly. Based on decades of research, the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes. Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.
U.S.
- Zero-tolerance policy fails to stop surge of illegal immigrant families (The Washington Times) Migrant families continued to pour across the U.S.-Mexico border in June, according to the latest numbers, a signal that the government’s threat to jail parents and separate them from their children didn’t stop them from making the attempt. Some 78% of illegal immigrant families who approached the border in June tried to sneak, and 22% came through the ports of entry to make a claim. The average of border-jumpers over the previous five months was 63%. The number of people caught by Border Patrol agents is considered a yardstick for the overall flow, so more people nabbed means more people are getting through. Overall, the Border Patrol did see a drop from about 40,300 to about 34,100 people. The number of unaccompanied alien children caught trying to sneak across the border dropped from nearly 6,400 to about 5,100.
- The ‘McConnell Rule’ is law, and Senate Democrats should sue to enforce it (The Hill) This week, President Trump will announce his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to schedule the nominee’s confirmation hearings for this fall, before the midterm elections. This Op Ed argues:
If and when McConnell carries through on this promise, Senate Democrats should immediately file a federal lawsuit against him for violating the so-called “McConnell Rule.” (According to this rule, as McConnell himself stated on Feb. 13, 2016, “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.”) The issue – whether the McConnell Rule is now binding precedent – would not be political (and therefore “nonjusticiable”) but rather fundamentally legal (and therefore “justiciable”).
- Battle lines drawn over abortion ahead of Trump’s supreme court pick (The Guardian) Battle lines have been drawn over the future of abortion in America on the eve of President Donald Trump’s nomination of a second justice to the US supreme court that could put the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v Wade in jeopardy.
- Democrats are tying Trump’s Supreme Court pick to the special counsel’s Russia probe. Here’s why (CNBC)
- Some Democrats are tying President Donald Trump’s forthcoming Supreme Court nominee to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
- It’s an argument without much basis in law or precedent, experts tell CNBC, but it could be politically effective.
- “A President under investigation for colluding with a foreign nation to interfere with an election should not be allowed to appoint someone to the Supreme Court,” Sen. Jeff Merkley tweeted Friday.
- GOP runs into Trump tax law in New Jersey (The Hill) Democrats in New Jersey are hoping that President Trump’s tax-cut law provides them with a boost in the midterm elections. The law caps the state and local tax (SALT) deduction at $10,000, a change that hurts people in high-tax states such as New Jersey, which has the highest property taxes of any state.
All but one New Jersey Republican voted against the tax law, in large part because of the limit on state and local tax deductions. Democrats on the campaign trail say restoring the full deduction means putting their party back in charge of the House.
- Devin Nunes calls for House probe of 42 Obama-era anti-Trump activists (The Washington Times) Rep. Devin Nunes is referring 42 Obama administration officials, FBI agents and outside political activists to a House task force for an investigation into how the Obama Justice Department targeted the Donald Trump campaign. If the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Judiciary Committee agree, their task force would conduct the most extensive probe to date on anti-Trump government operations in 2016.
Mr. Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has sent letters to Oversight head Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and Judiciary’s Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.
- US Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits (Associated Press) Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.
The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.
- Voter optimism holds key to GOP’s midterm hopes (The Hill) GOP strategists are hopeful that a booming economy and voters’ growing confidence on the country’s direction will dampen what might otherwise be a wave for Democrats in November’s midterms. Republican pollsters are nervous about President Trump’s approval rating and a generic ballot match-up that reliably favors Democrats, but a review of polling conducted before the last seven midterm elections shows the fate of the incumbent president’s party can rise or fall based on voters’ views of the direction of the country.
- Why Detroit must keep making sedans (The Washington Times) The American car buying public has turned away from sedans to crossovers, SUVs and pickups, but Detroit would be foolish to severely curtail sedan offerings as planned.
In recent years, improvements in vehicle materials and engine efficiency boosted MPG for just about every platform, and the gas-cost penalty of driving car-based SUVs relative to sedans fell. Along with greater visibility and ease for hauling kids and stuff around that gave impetus to Detroit’s sales of larger offerings.
EU
- Ahead of NATO summit, allies wonder: Will NATO survive Trump? (The Washington Post) NATO leaders once feared President Trump wasn’t invoking the right words to convince Russia that the United States was still serious about defending Europe.
Now they’re worried about something bigger: a full crackup of the alliance, or at least such a weakening of Washington’s security commitments that NATO would emerge deeply damaged.
- NATO military spending continues to dwarf that of Russia (Euro News) Military spending in NATO countries continues to dwarf equivalent spending in Russia and the gap widened in 2017, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Data provided by the organisation which studies conflict, weapons and arms control found that Russia slipped from third to fourth place in the table of states with the highest military expenditure. Moscow spent $66.3 billion in 2017, nearly three billion dollars less than the previous year. Relative to the country’s economy, this represented a fall of a full percentage point: Russia spent 4.3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, compared to 5.3% in 2016. In contrast, the United States spent nearly ten times as much: its reported figure of $610 billion is in line with US expenditure over the past few years. Total military spending by all 29 NATO countries was $900 billion in 2017, accounting for 52% of world spending according to SIPRI. NATO spending outside the U.S. was $290 billion, 4.4 times as much as Russia.
UK
- David Davis steps down as Brexit secretary in blow to Theresa May – live updates (The Guardian) Follow live updates of political developments as Davis resigns from government. See also Blow for Theresa May as UK Brexit negotiator David Davis quits (Euro News) and U.K Brexit Ministers Davis and Baker Quit in Major Blow to May (Bloomberg).
- Brexiteers outmanoeuvred at Chequers after Theresa May corrals cabinet – before Brexit secretary resigns (The Conversation) The prime minister had managed to get her cabinet to agree on a Brexit plan … for 48 hours.
Germany​
- State of the Union: Has Merkel cured her migration headache? (Euro News) The migration issue plagues German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but has she now done enough to save the government? This leads this European news summary.
India
- Intercaste marriages and grooms who pay their way: welcome to the new India (The Guardian) Greater openness to intercaste marriage and an increased willingness among men to help with wedding costs point to the emergence of a more liberal generation in India, a study of young people’s attitudes in the country has found.
A “pulse of the nation” survey of 130,000 18- to 35-year-olds, carried out by Inshorts, a news app that has been downloaded by 10 million Indians, found 70% were happy with marriages between people of different castes, turning on its head the the country’s entrenched caste hierarchy.
- Slain UMKC student from India shot in back fleeing from restaurant robber, worker says (The Kansas City Star) A 25-year-old University of Missouri-Kansas City student from India, Sharath Koppu, was fatally shot in the back as he ran from a would-be robber at the restaurant where he worked, a man working at the restaurant said Saturday. See also Warangal youth shot dead in U.S. (The Hindu).
Vietnam
- Pompeo points to Vietnam as example of improved relations (Associated Press) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday extolled improved relations with Vietnam as a model for rapprochement with North Korea. Pompeo met with senior Vietnamese officials, including the prime minister and foreign minister in Hanoi, after weekend stops in Japan and North Korea, where he has been seeking progress in denuclearization negotiations with the North.
Japan
- Japan says death toll from floods climbs to 100 (Associated Press) The Japanese government says at least 100 people have died or are presumed dead from the heavy rains, floods and mudslides that have struck western Japan. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference Monday that 68 people were unaccounted for, many of them in the hardest-hit Hiroshima area. Suga said 87 people were confirmed dead and 13 others had no vital signs when they were found as of early Monday.
North Korea
- North Korea Reminds Trump Its Nuclear Weapons Won’t Come Cheap (Bloomberg) See also North Korea’s harsh tone suggests old regime ‘alive and well’ and won’t go without a fight. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Pyongyang to get Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. He left with a harsh reminder that the North Korean leader expects something in return.
While President Donald Trump’s point man for nuclear talks summed up his 27 hours in the North Korean capital as “productive,” the regime called the visit “regretful.” No sooner had Pompeo left when Kim’s media published a statement saying the U.S.’s “unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization” risked upending ties less than a month after Trump and Kim shook hands in Singapore.
