Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 03 December 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
- Stocks in Asia higher after US and China postpone tariff escalation; Shanghai gains more than 2.5 percent (CNBC) Stocks in Asia saw gains on Monday after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary trade truce between the United States and China. The U.S. dollar index was lower at 96.785 after touching highs above 97.5 last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.63 per barrel at 0358 GMT, up $2.73 per barrel, or 5.4%, from their last close. International Brent crude oil futures were up $2.8 per barrel, or 4.8%, at $62.30 a barrel. Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,225.67 per ounce at 0407 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.4% at $1,230.4 per ounce.
- G-20 leaders agree on trade, Trump bucks others on climate (The Hill) Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) nations on Saturday signed off on a final statement pledging to fix the world trading system, with all but President Trump also expressing support for the Paris climate agreement. The statement finalized after the two-day summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, calls for reforming the World Trade Organization but does not mention protectionism because the U.S. resisted those discussions, according to The Associated Press.
- Faith in the U.S. president remains low (Pew Research Center) Confidence in the American president to do the right thing regarding world affairs is largely unchanged this year – with a few notable exceptions – from 2017. A median of 27% in 25 nations surveyed say they trust in President Donald Trump’s handling of international issues, while 70% do not have confidence in him. In only four countries – the Philippines, Israel, Nigeria and Kenya – does more than half the public voice trust in the U.S. president. Such confidence has gone up significantly in only three nations – South Korea (up 27 percentage points), Israel (up 13 points) and Poland (up 12 points). It is down significantly in Russia, by 34 percentage points.
U.S.
- Senate Republican: ‘Big mistake’ if Cohen lied to intelligence committee (The Hill) Cohen pleaded guilty last week to making misstatements to Congress while testifying about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, according to a plea deal released by the special counsel. Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO) said Sunday that President Trump’s former personal attorney allegedly lying to a congressional committee is a “big mistake” and he’s glad special counsel Robert Mueller is taking it “seriously.”
- The Memo: Trump’s Mueller problems deepen, worrying allies (The Hill) President Trump’s problems are deepening after a dramatic week in the Robert Mueller probe, and even his allies are worried about what might come next. Trump has become increasingly enraged about the special counsel’s probe after a week in which his former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and affirmed his full cooperation with Mueller. Also, Mueller also stepped away from a cooperation agreement with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, accusing Manafort of lying. And the author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi publicized a draft plea agreement with Mueller, even as he rejected that deal.
- ‘Twists but no plot’: Trump’s diminishing foreign travel reflects a president scaling back foreign ambition (The Washington Post) After midterm elections in which their party loses political power in Washington, American presidents have traditionally used foreign travel to change the subject and more easily flex their executive muscle. But in the wake of the Republicans’ electoral setback last month, President Trump has, once again, eschewed tradition. Trump returned to Washington on Sunday after a relatively subdued two-day visit to the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, where he announced modest breakthroughs on trade but chose to avoid provocative meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- Feds plan unusual appeal in emoluments suit vs. Trump (Politico) The Justice Department is planning an unusual appeal to stop the governments of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia from using a federal lawsuit to demand access to information about whether President Donald Trump is using his luxury Washington hotel to unconstitutionally profit from his office. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte turned down Trump’s request for permission to seek an appeal of early rulings in the case that went against him. Now, federal government lawyers say they plan to appeal anyway, using a rarely invoked process that can block a wayward judge from pressing on with a course of action alleged to be illegal or improper. On Friday, the Justice Department informed Messitte that the federal government plans to try to get the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the case.
- James Comey drops legal challenge to Congressional GOP subpoena to testify about 2016 investigations (CNBC)
- Former FBI Director James Comey has dropped a legal challenge to a Republican-led effort to compel his testimony before Congress, which is seeking more information about the bureau’s investigations in the run up to the 2016 elections.
- As part of a new agreement with the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, lawmakers have agreed to release a full transcript of Comey’s testimony within 24 hours.
- Man at center of North Carolina election scandal was convicted of felony fraud (Popular Information) This sounds like an operation worthy of the old-time political boss operations.
- Trump to notify Congress in ‘near future’ he will terminate NAFTA and replace it with remarkably similar NAFTA ‘deal’ (Raw Story) President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will give formal notice to the U.S. Congress in the near future to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), giving six months for lawmakers to approve a new trade deal signed on Friday.
- The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal (The Intercept) No summary seems appropriate because it is a rambling piece. Read it for yourself.
- Ocasio-Cortez says ‘death panels’ exist in private health insurance market (The Hill) Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY) on Sunday referred to “death panels,” which was popularized almost a decade ago by Sarah Palin, saying they exist in the private health insurance market. She made the “death panels” comment in response to Jim Hanson, the president of Security Studies Group, with whom she had been exchanging posts about the merits of further government intervention into health care. Hanson wrote in reply to Ocasio-Cortez’s assertion that death panels exist:
“Nice try, but commercial insurance gives people choices about what coverages they want & decide to pay for.”
- Percentage of Republicans in each congressional district who say that global warming is happening (Reddit)
UK
- UK government will not pull December 11 Brexit deal vote, minister says (Reuters) Next week’s parliamentary vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal will go ahead, interior minister Sajid Javid said on Monday, rejecting media speculation that the government might not go ahead with the vote because they could lose it.
France
- Macron tells PM to hold talks after worst unrest in Paris for decades (Reuters) French President Emmanuel Macron ordered his prime minister on Sunday to hold talks with political leaders and demonstrators, as he sought a way out of nationwide protests after rioters turned central Paris into a battle zone. See also Worst riot in a decade engulfs Paris; Macron vows action (Associated Press)
Qatar
- Qatar pulls out of Opec as relations with neighbours sour (Financial Times) Qatar will quit Opec from next year, a group that it has been a part of since 1961, the country’s energy minister said on Monday.
Qatar, which is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is among the smallest oil producers in the group, pumping 609,000 barrels a day according to the Opec research arm’s October oil market report.
Russia
- Top Democrats raise alarms about Trump’s project in Russia that he called ‘very legal & very cool’ (NBC News) Democrats said Michael Cohen’s admission showed Russia had ‘leverage’ over Trump – but Republicans pushed back saying it wasn’t surprising Trump was doing international business during the campaign.
- Russian spokesman says there were contacts on Trump Tower, but they ‘disappeared’ (NBC News) The guilty plea by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen raised new questions about the pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow. A spokesman for Russia’s government said Saturday that only two emails and a phone call took place between President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and Russian officials about a planned Trump Tower project. Peskov seemed to say Saturday that there was a return telephone call. In the plea agreement documents, prosecutors wrote that Cohen did receive a response from the Putin press secretary’s office. Cohen’s plea on Thursday marked the first time that Trump and his private business dealings in Moscow were named in open court as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign. See also Russian official confirms contacts between Cohen and Kremlin but says emails have ‘disappeared’: NBC News (Raw Story).
China
- Trump: China agrees to reduce tariffs on US autos (The Hill) President Trump announced on Sunday that China had agreed to “reduce and remove” tariffs on U.S.-produced vehicles imported into the country. The Chinese foreign ministry also touted the agreement, saying the two sides had “proposed a series of constructive plans on how to properly resolve existing differences and problems.” See also Trump’s description of the China trade deal doesn’t match the official White House version. See also Trump’s description of the China trade deal doesn’t match the official White House version (CNBC).
- Trump and China declare 90-day truce on new tariffs to allow for trade negotiations (Business Insider)
- President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have reached a 90-day ceasefire agreement on new economic tariffs.
- Trump agreed not to raise US tariffs on Chinese imports as scheduled on January 1.
- Trump will impose the tariffs if the two countries do not reach an agreement within 90 days, according to the White House.
- China also agreed to label fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of American drug deaths annually, as a controlled substance.
- ‘I Begged Them to Kill Me.’ Uighur Woman Tells Congress of Torture in Chinese Internment Camps (Time) A Uighur woman and mother of three told a Congressional committee this week that she was tortured and suffered the loss of a child in a mass internment camp, pressing the U.S. to take punitive action against China’s mass detention of the Muslim minority.
China contends that the mass “re-education camps,” in which rights groups estimate as many as 1 million people have been held against their will, are a modernizing effortintended to combat religious extremism.
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