Links 16 January 2018

Global Macro/Investing/Economics

• The World Bank says it will redo its competitiveness rankings after unfairly influencing them for years: Political motivations of World Bank staff may have influenced the changes, and Chile may have been a target – Business Insider
• A few good (wo)men – on the representation of women in economics – Bruegel
• Bitcoin Is Headed Lower – Forbes
• Bundesbank has decided to include the Chinese yuan in its currency reserves – Forexlive
• IMF Says China Must Fix Shortcomings to Lead Globalization – Bloomberg

Americas

• Trump’s private schedule becomes super secret – Axios (hint: he does sweet fuck all, all day)
• Democrats, Make a Deal With Trump to Protect Dreamers – NYTimes
• Flake to denounce Trump media attacks as Stalinist in Senate speech – NBCNews
• I’m Running,’ Romney Says Privately, but as a Trump Friend or Foe? – NYTimes
• Missile-alert mistake in Hawaii raises doubts about government’s ability in a real emergency – The Globe and Mail
• Trump Is a Racist. Period. – NY Times (shock horror)
• I’m a Republican. What on Earth Is Wrong With My Party? – Time (its the American Taliban is what’s wrong…)

Europe/Middle East

• Israeli soldiers shoot 3-year-old Palestinian child in the head during West Bank military training exercise – MondoWeiss
• Russia reinforces military presence in Crimea – Euronews
• A German coalition deal to radically reshape Europe – FT
• U.S. set to cut U.N. money for Palestinian refugees. – Bloomberg (shithole isn’t even a country yet…)
• Putin Compares Communism to Christianity: “Faith has always accompanied us, it strengthened when our country, our people faced particularly difficult times,” Putin said in an interview for the documentary film “Valaam.” – SputnikNews
• UK scrambles 2 RAF Typhoon fighter jets to intercept Russian planes – RT

Asia

• Indonesia Stock Exchange floor collapses, many casualties reported – ABC
• Islamic anti-vaxxers undermine efforts to prevent diphtheria outbreak in Indonesia – ABC
• The Philippines’ most active volcano rumbled back to life Sunday with lava rising to its crater in a gentle eruption that has prompted authorities to evacuate thousands of villagers. – ABCNews
• The U.S. is beefing up its presence around the Korean Peninsula ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics by deploying stealth bombers, at least one extra aircraft carrier and a new amphibious assault ship to the region. -ABCNews
• Burning oil tanker sinks off China – BBC
• Mystery vessel lurking near Senkakus last week was Chinese nuclear attack sub, Japan’s defense chief says -JapanTimes

Straya/UnZud

• Tesla’s massive battery in Australia was paid up to $1000/MWh to charge itself. – Electrek.co
• Anti-Islam activist mistakes Koran for Bible in court appearance – The Age
• The Queensland Police Union has called for immediate end to use of unmarked and covert speed cameras, saying they do nothing more than raise government revenue. QPU president Ian Leavers said “sneaky” devices did not reduce state’s road toll or stop people from speeding. – The Guardian

….and more

• Geologists have discovered 280-million-year-old tree fossils in what is believed to be evidence of the oldest polar forest found in Antarctica: Trees are believed to have lived through extremes of complete darkness and continuous sunlight. – Independent
• Increases in internet use linked to a loss of religious affiliation, study finds – PsyOrg (thank Dog for that)
• A New “Wikileaks for Religion” Publishes Its First Trove of Documents – Slate (more Dogs to thank!)
• The engine test firing for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket has slipped until Tuesday, with the opening of the window set for 4pm (2100 GMT): Spaceflight Now Got to watch this….and then the launch/RUD/Tesla PR Stunt of the Millennium….