Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 31 January 2020.
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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Key Articles
Global
- Asia stocks mixed as coronavirus concerns continue to weigh on investor sentiment (CNBC) Asia markets were mixed on Friday as fears over the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Mainland China markets remain closed. The U.S. dollar index was lower at 97.944 but up from an earlier low of 97.855. Brent crude futures jumped $1.16 to $59.45 a barrel by 0532 GMT, after falling 2.5% the previous session. Brent is still down 2% for the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up by $1.06 to $53.20 a barrel. The contract fell 2.2% on Thursday and is now 1.8% lower for the week. Gold was down 0.4% to $1,583.40. Bond yields were mixed. German bunds wer flat, UK gilts saw lower rates,while U.S. treasuries had rates rise.
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U.S.
- Trump Lawyer’s Impeachment Argument Stokes Fears of Unfettered Power (The New York Times) The wave of outrage underscored how the politics of the Trump era – and his lawyers’ efforts to help Mr. Trump advance his agenda and defend himself from scrutiny – have become infused with concerns about executive power overreach. Thre is nom better example of this thyat what Alan Dershowitz (pictured below with anothger Trumpo lawyer, Pam Bondi) argued:
“If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
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Other important articles
Global
- Neanderthal genes found for first time in African populations (The Guardian) Human evolution keeps getting more and more complicated. New findings suggest human and Neanderthal lineages more closely intertwined that once thought, suggesting far earlier interbreeding events between humans and Neanderthals, about 200,000 years ago. See also Documentary Of The Week: The Complexity Of Human Evolution and Identifying and Interpreting Apparent Neanderthal Ancestry in African Individuals (Cell). The average Neanderthal DNA for Africans is now estimated to be 0.3%, while among Eurasian populations it avarages about 1% and frequently ranges to 2% or more.
It is not known whether all African populations, some of whose roots stretch into the deep past, share this Neanderthal heritage. KhoeSan (bushmen) and Mbuti (central African pygmy) populations, for instance, appear to have split off from other groups more than 100,000 years ago.
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- China reports new cases, deaths as virus declared emergency (Associated Press) The World Health Organization declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries a global emergency after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the record number of deaths in 24 hours reported Friday. China counted 9,692 confirmed cases with a death toll of 213, including 43 new fatalities.
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U.S.
- GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, a key impeachment swing vote, says he will vote against witnesses (NBC News)
- Mitt Romney, a Man Alone (The New York Times) Sen. Mitt Romney (R, UT) is the only Republican supporting a call for witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.
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- Impeachment trial to end but its aftershocks will rock America (CNN) America’s latest “national nightmare” will not end when Republicans vote to acquit President Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors, possibly as early as Friday
- New recording shows access Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman had to Trump at Mar-a-Lago donor event (The Washington Post)
- US life expectancy rises for first time since 2014 (BBC News)
- Helicopter in Kobe Bryant Crash Wasn’t Legal to Fly in Poor Visibility (The New York Times)
EU
- In Brussels, a quiet last nod for Brexit and a rainy ‘au revoir’ (Brexit)
- Michel Barnier: ‘We are weaker than if we were together’ (BBC News)
UK
- Huge surge in Britons applying for non-UK passports (The Guardian)
- Post-Brexit trade: public prioritises deal with EU and is most concerned about food (The Conversation)
France
- French GDP shrinks unexpectedly in blow to European economy (The Guardian) GDP contraction at an annual rate of 0.1% was unexpected.
Iran
- U.S. renews waivers on Iran nuclear work, sanctions Iran’s top nuclear official (Reuters) The Trump administration on Thursday said it will allow Russian, Chinese and European companies to continue work at Iranian nuclear sites to make it harder for that country to develop a nuclear weapon, drawing ire from Iran hawk Republicans.
India
Nicaragua
- Massacre leaves six indigenous people dead at Nicaraguan nature reserve (The Guardian) Six indigenous people have been killed and other 10 kidnapped after scores of armed men raided an isolated Nicaraguan nature reserve in an attack linked to raging land disputes.
Mexico
- Homero Gómez Gonzfllez, Mexico’s monarch butterfly defender, found dead (The Washington Post)
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