Monthly Archives: September 2015

Womb sweet Womb

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Quite a significant scientific step forward today, as Britain prepares for its first womb transplants.

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WORLD

In the US, meanwhile, what Congressional Republicans hoped would be a high-profile attack on women’ health organization Planned Parenthood turned out to be somewhat limp, leading only to widespread public push-back and some high-profile donations.

At the Labour Party conference, Jeremy Corbyn’s relatively mild speech was generally well-received. Even the parts that were apparently written for a previous leader.

Although Corbyn’s declaration this morning that he “would not press the nuclear button” raised again the whole issue of the “deterrent.”

Edward Snowden is on Twitter. He was almost instantaneously verified and had tens of thousands of followers. He is, however, only following one account. Can you guess whose it is? (and it only took about half an hour for him to get more followers than them…)

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MEDIA

German media group Axel Springer, recently knocked back in its pursuit of the Financial Times, bought itself  Business Insider.

Peter Kafka – a former employee of Business Insider owner Henry Blodget – writes at Re/Code:

Business Insider shares very little in common with the FT, other than they both deal with financial topics: While the FT has built out its own digital operations in recent years, it’s a subscription-based business whose stock-in-trade is sober, restrained reporting.

Business Insider is a fast-twitch publisher, pitched at readers who’ve grown up on the Web and based on a free, ad-supported business model. While the site was famous for its you-bet-you’ll-keep-clicking headlines and slideshows, it also did plenty of serious reporting; in the last year it has been on an expansion binge, adding a British outpost, a new tech site and a new gambit that’s supposed to create viral content that lives on platforms like Facebook.

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BUSINESS

As Volkswagen says it will “fix” the software in 1.2 million vehicles in Britain affected by the emissions scandal, another carmaker is set for the headlights this week, in a more positive way.

Ralph Lauren is stepping down as head of his eponymous fashion empire.

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

Deflate gate appeal in Februaryzzzzzz.

In proper football, not a good night for English teams in the Champions League, with both London clubs losing. The two Manchester teams will try to do better on Wednesday.

footie(The Sun/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

 

Jeremy and Trevor ready for prime time

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Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday delivers his first speech to a Labour Party conference as its leader. It’s often said that he has basically given the same speech, in some form, for the past thirty years, but usually to a much smaller – and generally exclusively sympathetic – audience.

The FT’s Janan Ganesh writes, on Corbyn’s rise:

Corbynism is likened to continental convulsions such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. But these countries were brutalised by the euro crisis and its remedial austerity. Britain was not. The far left cannot even stand up its claim that inequality is rising here.

Their movement has more in common with the psychic disturbances going on in anglophone democracies than with anything in Europe. Mr Corbyn became Labour leader for the same reason that Australia, which has not had a recession since 1991, cannot hang on to a prime minister; and America, with 5 per cent unemployment, is toying with the idea of President Donald Trump or President Bernie Sanders.

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WORLD

Monday evening’s meeting between Presidents Putin and Obama, scheduled for an hour, ran just over 90 minutes.

Earlier, Putin told the UN General Assembly that, as Joshua Keating at Slate puts it, ‘America is destroying the world, and only we can stop it.‘

Speaking shortly after Obama dismissed Russia’s view that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad can be a partner in fighting ISIS, Putin, making his first address to the General Assembly in a decade, blamed foreign—read: U.S.—interference for helping the spread of extremism in the Middle East. “Rather than bringing about reforms, an aggressive foreign interference has resulted in the brazen destruction of institutions,” he said. Addressing “those who’ve caused the situation,” Putin said he’s temped to ask,  “do you realize now what you’ve done?” (Putin never referred to the U.S. specifically, only to an unnamed Voldemort-like malevolent presence doing terrible things in the world.)

In domestic US politics, the Senate advanced a bill to avoid a government shutdown while Ted Cruz found himself apparently isolated by his own party.

Meanwhile, in the GOP presidential primary, the policy debate is being honed.

Tuesday will see some big players giving evidence to Congress on Benghazi.

And on that big Nasa announcement,

they didn’t say intelligent life. So that’s fine.

(of course, everyone knows Nasa’s announcement wasn’t part of any “leftist agenda” since it was obviously part of the marketing campaign for this…)

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BUSINESS

More worries over China, and mining, and emissions. Meanwhile, a big rate cut in India.

And this is interesting..

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MEDIA

Will the FT’s new owners give a commitment to journalistic independence?

John Cassidy interviews FT chief executive John Ridding for the New Yorker and writes:

Ridding, a former F.T. journalist himself, pointed out that Nikkei is largely owned and run by ex-journalists. Still, Japanese reporters, and those who work for Nikkei in particular, have a reputation for going easy on the country’s corporations. Ridding said that he didn’t think that was fair. “When you talk to them as journalists about news, they love news,” he said. “But I think the most important thing is they understand our values and editorial independence. I’m not going to tell them how to run Nikkei, and they are not going to tell us how to do editorial independence at the F.T. They are very clear about that.”

We’ll see, I guess…

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CULTURE

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah officially launched last night. As Noah said: “one more job rejected by an American now being done by an immigrant.” And he did a nice job. Once he hits his personal stride, the show will continue to be as must-see as it was with the departed Jon Stewart. (Nice shout out to the Mets, as well..)

 

Talk, Talk…

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Expect a flurry of politicking and diplomatic hither-thither all over the place today.

President Obama is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday on the sidelines at the UN General Assembly in New York. It will be the first time the leaders have met since last summer.

President Putin will make his first address to the General Assembly in a decade, as the future of Syria and fighting ISIS are set to feature heavily in leaders’ interactions.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron insists he hasn’t backed down on his previous position calling for the removal of the Syrian leader.

Cameron will also meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tomorrow.

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WORLD

The Labour Party conference begins in Brighton on Monday with new leader Jeremy Corbyn not now facing a divisive debate over Britain’s nuclear deterrent after all. Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell will address conference today and looks set to suggest a “Robin Hood tax” on stock market transactions. Whatever he might say, though, the reaction is likely predictable.

telegraph(Daily Telegraph)

Pope Francis is on his way home after wrapping up his trip to the US with an open-air mass in Philadelphia.

One high-profile political gathering seems to be having some problems, though…

Politico writes:

The glitzy Clinton Global Initiative gathering in New York, which has the lofty title “The Future of Impact,” was supposed to have been a celebration of the accomplishments of the $2-billion Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation’s past work as it pivots towards a future with Chelsea Clinton at the helm.

Instead, it’s become emblematic of the foundation’s struggles to regain its luster, while scaling back some of its ambitions and restructuring amid heightened scrutiny of its internal workings, the diminished role of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the prospect that former president Bill Clinton also could be forced to step back.

And it turned out the former President had offered to step in to help break the current political impasse in Northern Ireland, an offer that was met by a respectful “thanks, but no thanks,” by local Unionists.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, addressed the ongoing email controversy that is dogging her Presidential campaign. It was far from convincing.

…asked if she could reassure nervous Democrats that no new email revelations would arise, she said: “I can’t predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what sort of charges and claims they might make.”

Clinton compared criticism about her use of private email instead of a government account while she was secretary of state to the flood of controversies and Republican-led investigations that marked the presidency of her husband Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

“I have been involved from the receiving side in a lot of these accusations,” Clinton said. “In fact as you might remember during the 90s there were a bunch of them. All of them turned out to be not true.”

In elections in Catalonia, parties advocating separation from Spain looked set to win a majority in what appeared to be a record high turnout.

There was a lunar eclipse and a rare, so-called “BloodMoon” in the early hours of Monday morning, resulting in some pretty amazing photos from all over the world.

Meanwhile, Nasa is set to make a “major announcement” about a scientific finding concerning Mars on Monday.

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BUSINESS

Shell said it would not proceed with its controversial Arctic drilling program after disappointing results from a test well. The company said it would “cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future.”

So exactly what did Volkswagen know and when did it know it?

From one brand in need of a makeover, to some that apparently are doing just fine, thanks.

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SPORTS

As the New York Mets clinched baseball’s National League East, the team many people thought would beat them to it – indeed, many people’s favorites to win it all this year – the Washington Nationals, appear to be imploding.

English rugby is digesting their remarkable defeat to Wales at Twickenham which leaves Stuart Lancaster’s team likely needing to beat Australia next weekend to qualify for the next stage.

 

VW wrestles with emissions fallout

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As the Volkswagen emissions scandal apparently widens, Reuters reports the German automaker is poised to appoint the boss of Porsche “to help steer it out of crisis”. 

timesbmw(The Times/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

The Economist wonders if the scandal could finally be the beginning of the era of the electric car.

At least America’s regulators, unlike Europe’s, sometimes stage their own tests to verify the manufacturers’ findings. But it is time this whole system was swept away and replaced, everywhere, with fully independent testing of cars in realistic driving conditions. Now, with outrage at VW’s behaviour at its height, is the moment to act. That would mean overcoming the objections of carmakers. But it also requires European regulators to change their attitudes to diesel, which accounts for half of cars sold on the continent.

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WORLD

House Speaker John Boehner is to resign from Congress at the end of October.

Reuters reports:

The Ohio lawmaker, 65, stunned Republican House members at a morning meeting with the announcement he will step down from the speakership, the top job in the 435-seat chamber, and resign his seat in Congress effective on Oct. 30.

U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 House Republican, is expected to be the leading contender to replace Boehner as speaker, Republican Representative Peter King told reporters.

Representative Paul Ryan, a former U.S. vice presidential candidate, told reporters in a Capitol hallway that McCarthy would likely be the next speaker. Ryan said, “I don’t want to be speaker.”

 

Some folks were maybe a little too happy at the news…

With President Obama hosting the Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday in the Chinese leader’s first state visit to the US, the New York Times reports that China is to announce a cap-and-trade program to limit emissions.

Mr. Xi’s pledge underscores China’s intention to act quickly and upends what has long been a potent argument among Republicans against acting on climate change: that the United States’ most powerful economic competitor has not done so. But it is not clear whether China will be able to enact and enforce a program that substantially limits emissions.

The UN, meanwhile, is hosting the Sustainable Development Goals summit.

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SPORTS

Could England be lining up a new coach?

And Liverpool, perhaps…? At least his name is a gift for sports subs pressed for a headline.

starkop(The Daily Star/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

Hundreds killed in Hajj stampede

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Saudi authorities said more than 700 people had died and hundreds more were injured in what was described as a stampede during the Hajj pilgrimage at Mina, near the Holy city of  Mecca. It was the heaviest loss of life in such incidents for 25 years.

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Refugee plan splits EU

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The EU’s tentative plan to resettle refugees was far from unanimous and likely sets up ongoing friction between member states, with one of the rebels, Slovakia, indicating it may take legal action to block the quota requirement.

Meanwhile, the first wave of Syrians has arrived in Britain.

The latest Lunch with the FT features UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon on the refugee issue (among other things).

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BUSINESS

The board of Volkswagen is meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the company’s response to the emissions scandal, which has seen about one-third of the company’s market capitalization evaporate in the past few days.

The Aids drug hedge fund guy may have seen the light, apparently shamed into saying he’ll reduce the cost of the medication – but not by how much.

And not before his right to increase the price picked up some – probably predictable – support.

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

Chelsea team doctor Eva Carniero appears to have finally had enough.

 

And finally – as if he could ever be anyone’s last word – sad to hear of the passing of baseball great Yogi Berra.

yogi

 

 

Popemania!

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Pope Francis arrives in Washington on Tuesday at the start of his six-day US tour.

Not everyone’s excited…

Not least, some DC commuters. New York and Philly, you’re next.

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WORLD

Hungary gets even tougher on the refugee issue, as Europe talks.

And, probably predictably,

Former GOP favorite, Milwaukee Gov Scott Walker, called time on his presidential campaign and one of his former advisers took to Twitter to explain why he failed.

There were plenty of reasons for his implosion. Here’s probably the main one.

24 hours in the life of a viral hatchet-job …

 

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BUSINESS

Fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues, with bad news for the CEO, who could be on his way out, and for drivers, who face vehicle recalls. And the shares are down again on Tuesday.

In today’s round-up of caring capitalism, there’s these guys…

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MEDIA

On the other hand…

First PigGate, now Pizza Rat.

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

Wondering why Sir Alex is all over the sports pages? He has a new book out.

Unfortunate timing for apparently third-choice “Chosen One” David Moyes.

 

 

Weary Greeks vote for more of the same

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After a record low turnout in Greece’s snap election clearly returned Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party to power, nothing much has, really, changed.

As Amanda Dardanis at Mashable wonders: Is the country that invented drama now fed up with it?

On the line on Sunday: very little indeed. After months of hardship, Greece has already reluctantly accepted a bailout that would slash the country’s budget and reduce everything from retirement pensions to schools to farming to social services. Those who voted for the Syriza party — which promised the cuts would never happen — have before already realized their dream has failed and their principles won’t be upheld again.

Mark Whitehouse at Bloomberg reports on one “glimmer of hope” for the Greek economy.

Data from the Greek central bank — which records a liability for every euro that leaves the country’s banking system — suggest that the end of the standoff has at least brought a bit of relief. During the year through June, during which the left-leaning Syriza came to power and clashed with European creditors, outflows amounted to more than 77 billion euros, equivalent to more than 40 percent of Greece’s annual economic output. In July and August, after a bailout deal was reached, the flow reversed: About 6 billion euros came back in.

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WORLD

Pope Francis heads to the US this week for a long-awaited and logistically-challenging visit that looks set to ruffle some Conservative feathers. At the weekend in Cuba, the Pontiff met with Fidel Castro in a 30-minute meeting at Castro’s home which was described as “friendly and informal.” The Pope arrives in Washington DC on Tuesday.

In other spiritual leader news, with EU leaders preparing for more urgent talks on the refugee crisis, the Church of England‘s Archbishop of Canterbury has offered part of his official London residence to refugees.

But I guess you can’t please everyone.

Meanwhile, this is a particularly moving story from the BBC of one man’s experience.

Britain‘s Liberal Democrats, their parliamentary presence decimated in May’s general election, are holding their annual conference in Bournemouth. Former leader Nick Clegg, widely criticized for his role in the previous coalition government, will give a speech on Monday afternoon warning of the consequences of leaving the EU.

For Prime Minister David Cameron, though, it’s probably going to be quite a long day.

And, sure enough…

and, sigh, brilliantly NSFW:

(@cassetteboy)

 

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BUSINESS

With British Chancellor George Osborne visiting China, it was announced that a deal had been agreed for Beijing to invest in Britain’s nuclear power generating facilities.

Even though the Chinese seemed to think the announcement would come later…

Shares in Volkswagen tumbled at the open amid fallout from news that the automaker apologized for “breaking customer trust” over emissions data.

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CULTURE

Viola Davis became the first African-American actress to win an Emmy for a lead role in a drama series.

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SPORTS

Britain are in the final of tennis’s Davis Cup for the first time since 1978 after Andy Murray led the team to semi-final victory over Australia in Glasgow. Belgium will host Britain in the final in November.

America’s women golfers turned around their anger over a controversial conceded putt to sensationally win the Solheim Cup in Germany.

Congratulations to Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea who became the world super bike champion.

Finally, after an exciting opening weekend for the Rugby World Cup tournament, Japan’s historic upset victory over South Africa is still resonating.

 

 

Croatia braces for chaos amid refugee influx

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The government in Zagreb has put its army on alert as the crisis affecting thousands of refugees and economic migrants appears again to be worsening amid confusion and isolation. Hungary has begun constructing a border fence with Croatia, and the Croatians in turn have closed their crossings with Serbia. Slovenia, meanwhile, is sending people back who have arrived on trains back to Croatia.

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The US is preparing to issue new rules to ease restrictions on companies doing business with Cuba. Reuters reports:

The regulations, to be announced as soon as Friday, include allowing U.S. companies to establish subsidiaries with Cuba, possibly via joint ventures with Cuban firms such as the Etecsa telecommunications monopoly, they said. The rules would also allow general licenses for ferries and cruise ships to stop in Cuba rather than requiring them to apply for specific licenses, they [US government sources] said.

Meanwhile, the Pope visits Cuba this weekend, ahead of his trip to the US next week.

There have been protests inside and outside Japan‘s parliament against the government of Shinzo Abe after a controversial defense bill moved forward which would permit the country’s military to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two.

By now, it’s sadly common for a story like this out of the US to make you just stop and shake your head.

But when it unfolds amid the sort of atmosphere that has been stirred up during the current GOP primary contest, there are inevitably even deeper concerns over the nature of political discourse, what it represents and the direction it’s headed.

But perhaps there’s some hope…

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BUSINESS

Investors are digesting the implications of the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep US interest rates unchanged on Thursday.

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MEDIA

New Musical Express, an icon of Britain’s music scene for more than 60 years, goes free on Friday as part of a strategy to tackle a stagnant circulation.

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SPORTS

FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke, President Sepp Blatter’s key right-hand man, was suspended until further notice and faces an investigation following what the organization called a “series of allegations”. Valcke had already said he would leave FIFA when Blatter steps down next February.

Friday sees the opening of the Rugby World Cup, when hosts England take on Fiji at Twickenham.

indyengland(The Independent/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

 

 

Powerful Chile earthquake triggers tsunami warnings

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An 8.3 magnitude earthquake – reported as the sixth most powerful to hit the country – struck off the coast of Chile, accompanied by several powerful aftershocks and prompting tsunami warnings for many Pacific locations. At least five people are known to have died, while a million people in coastal areas were evacuated amid widespread power outages.

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WORLD 

Hungary has been strongly criticized by both the UN and its neighbor Serbia after using tear gas and water cannon against refugees massed at the border between the two countries. Many asylum-seekers are reportedly now headed to Croatia instead.

The scheduled execution of Richard Glossip in Oklahoma was delayed for two weeks after his lawyers were granted additional time to investigate new evidence.

Mozambique is now apparently free of landmines, according to British charity the Halo Trust.

At Wednesday night’s Republican debate in California, the 10 candidates not named Donald Trump took turns trying to score hits off the front-runner.

Many believed the evening’s winner was Bernie Sanders’ tweets.

In London earlier in the day, the consensus was that Jeremy Corbyn performed well in his debut PMQs, which turned out to be somewhat low-key compared to its hype.

Corbyn, meanwhile, said he would not campaign for Britain to leave the EU, as the relationship between the new leader and some of his MPs continues to evolve.

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BUSINESS

Thursday is decision day for the Federal Reserve, as it prepares to announce whether or not US interest rates will rise for the first time in nine years. Watch live here:

A potential merger between two dominant brewers would put production of one-third of the world’s beer supply in their combined hands.

brewers(Financial Times/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)

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SPORTS

In Wednesday night’s Champions League games, Olivier Giroud was sent off as Arsenal lost 2-1 at Dinamo Zagreb. Chelsea beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 at Stamford Bridge to become the only English club to win in the tournament this week. The two London teams meet in the Premier League on Saturday.

sunsport(The Sun/Tomorrow’s Papers Today)