Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 14 February 2019
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
- Asia markets were subdued as investors wait for concrete developments in US-China trade talks (CNBC) High-level trade talks between the U.S. and China are underway in Beijing. Stocks in Asia were mixed on Thursday as investors looked for progress in the months-long tariff dispute. The U.S. dollar index was higher at 97.032 but lower than an earlier high of 97.176. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $54.16 per barrel at 0413 GMT, up $0.26 (0.5%) from their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were up %0.37, or 0.6%, at $63.98 a barrel. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,308.39 per ounce, as of 0256 GMT. U.S. gold futures were down 0.3% at $1,311.
- Nobel Peace Prize winner accused of sexual assault by six women (The Hill) A sixth woman has come forward to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual assault, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Carina Black, the executive director of the Northern Nevada International Center at the the University of Nevada in Reno, told the AP that Arias boxed her against a wall in an elevator in 1998 and tried kissing her.
U.S.
- Congress advances border security bill without Trump border wall (Reuters) The U.S. Congress on Thursday aimed to end a dispute over border security with legislation that would ignore President Donald Trump’s request for $5.7 billion to help build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border but avoid a partial government shutdown. See also ‘We’re looking for landmines’ in border bill, Trump says, before he’ll sign it (ABC News)
- House Judiciary chairman invites Whitaker to clarify testimony (The Hill) House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) on Wednesday invited acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to meet with the House panel in the coming days to “clarify” answers he gave during testimony last week. In a letter to Whitaker, Nadler said lawmakers from both parties felt that Whitaker gave answers to the committee that were “unsatisfactory, incomplete, or contradicted.”
- Mueller just caught a fourth Trump aide lying about contact with the Russians (The Washington Post) A judge on Wednesday voided former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s cooperation deal with the government, agreeing with Mueller’s team that Manafort lied about three matters. In another two matters about which Mueller’s team accused Manafort of lying, the judge did not find “a preponderance of evidence“.
Importantly, included in the three instances in which U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found Manafort made false statements, one involved his business associate in Ukraine, Konstantin Kilimnik.
- Trump demands California return $3.5 billion in funds for state’s ‘disaster’ bullet train project (CNBC)
- President Donald Trump late Wednesday demanded California return the $3.5 billion it received from the federal government for the “disaster” high-speed rail project.
- “We want that money back now,” Trump tweeted, calling the planned bullet train between San Francisco and LA “a ‘green’ disaster!”
- On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a scale back of the $77 billion high-speed rail project, saying the current plan “would cost too much and take too long.”
- The Democratic governor responded to Trump’s tweet Wednesday by calling it “fake news. We’re building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.”
- Jury sides with transgender employee in ‘historic’ Iowa case (Associated Press) A jury ruled Wednesday that an Iowa prison warden discriminated against a transgender employee by denying him the use of men’s restrooms and locker rooms in a verdict that advocates call “historic.” Jurors also found that the state executive branch discriminated against Jesse Vroegh by offering medical benefits that would not cover his gender reassignment surgery. After making those findings, the eight-member jury awarded $120,000 in damages for emotional distress to Vroegh, 37, a former nurse at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville.
- Americans continue their march to low-tax states (The Hill) The United States Census Bureau released its annual state-by-state population estimates for 2018 in late December. It highlights migration trends across the states and sketches a picture of looming political changes that will take place after the complete census of 2020. On change that results is a redistribution of seats in the House of Representatives:
- Powerful storm dumps more rain and snow across the West (Associated Press) Heavy rain again raised the risk of mudslides in Southern California burn areas where evacuations were ordered during a powerful storm that flooded roads, toppled trees and cut power further north. The system known as an atmospheric river snaked through southern Oregon, Northern California and western Nevada while feeding on a deep plume of moisture stretching across the Pacific Ocean to near Hawaii, the National Weather Service said. The tempest followed more than a week of severe weather in the Pacific Northwest and was the latest in a series that has all but eliminated drought-level dryness in California this winter. See also Pineapple Express’s biggest punch, set to hit water-logged California (Reuters). For more details see February 11, 2019 – Intermediate-Term Weather Report – Atmospheric River:
EU
- EU adds Saudi Arabia to dirty-money blacklist, upsets UK, U.S. (Reuters) The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama and four U.S. territories to a blacklist of nations it considers a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said on Wednesday. Newcomers to the list include Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.
- Airbus set to scrap production of the world’s largest airliner (CNBC)
- In a statement published on Thursday, Airbus said the last A380 will be delivered in 2021.
- The decision comes after Emirates – the world’s largest A380 customer – decided to cut back its orders of the iconic aircraft and order a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo models instead.
- Emirates Airline said it would continue to use Airbus’ flagship aircraft well into the 2030s.
UK
- Britain’s PM May could face another Brexit defeat in parliament (Reuters) British Prime Minister Theresa May could face a defeat in parliament on Thursday over her plan to renegotiate the Brexit deal, undermining her pledge to the European Union that, with changes, she can get the agreement approved.
Saudi Arabia
- House passes bill to end US support for Saudi war in Yemen (The Hill) The House on Wednesday easily passed a bill that would require President Trump to withdraw U.S. military support from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen. In a 248-177 vote that largely fell along party lines, the House sent the war powers resolution to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass and confront Trump with the possibility of issuing the first veto of his presidency.
Russia
- 10 years ago, Russia built a border wall, too. Here’s the story. (The Washington Post)
In August 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war. Afterward, the Russian Federation recognized two breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – as independent states. Both are Russian protectorates and host Russian bases. A year later, border guards from Russia and South Ossetia, following mostly a 1984 Soviet General Staff map, began constructing a fence to demarcate what they termed an “international border” with Georgia. European Union officials, part of a monitoring mission sent to Georgia after the war, coined the word “borderization” to describe the construction of physical barriers to free movement along a disputed territorial line to simulate an international border. (Map below from Wikipedia.)
Lands and people once connected in Georgia have been physically divided. Everyday mobility is restricted. Local residents are cut off from farmland, schools and graveyards. Fences, barbed wire, posts and trenches cover about 60 kilometers (37 miles) of the 391-kilometer (243-mile) South Ossetian boundary line, 230 kilometers (143 miles) of which is mountainous.
China
- China cancels trade talks with UK in protest over defense secretary’s speech: The Sun (Reuters) Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua has canceled trade talks with Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond after defense secretary Gavin Williamson threatened to deploy a warship in the Pacific, The Sun newspaper reported on Thursday.
- Trump mulling 60-day delay for China tariff deadline (The Hill) Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Trump said he was considering pushing back the March 1 deadline for raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports if the two countries could negotiate a deal over changes to China’s economic policies.
- China’s January trade data come in much stronger than expected (CNBC)
- China’s January dollar-denominated exports rose 9.1% from a year ago, defying a forecast of a 3.2% contraction.
- China’s imports fell 1.5% over the same period, far better than the 10% decline that was expected.
- China’s overall trade surplus of $39.16 billion in January also beat expectations.
- China’s closely watched trade surplus with the U.S. fell to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December.
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