Links 31 December 2018

Macro/Markets:

• Trump pulled out of a massive trade deal. Now 11 countries are going ahead without the US – CNN
• Inside Xi Jinping’s Plan to Dominate the World – Bloomberg

Americas:

• Cyberattack from outside the U.S. hits newspapers across the country, preventing distribution, source says LA Times
• Trump’s New Jersey golf club accused of giving fake green cards, Social Security numbers to undocumented employees – Newsweek (I think they’re up to 18 or so individual crime cases for Trump now…what a shock!)
• Trump Wrongly Says Democrats Are Responsible for Children’s Deaths at the Border – A child has not died in Border Patrol’s custody for a decade until the Trump Administration – RollingStone
• Trump issues executive order freezing federal workers’ pay in 2019 – CNN
• ‘Medicare for All’ Gains Favor With Democrats Looking Ahead to 2020 – NYTimes (about time the Yanks get some civilization)
• America’s new year’s resolution: impeach Trump and remove him – The Guardian (then indict, then imprison and forfeit his assets)

Europe/Middle East:

• Trump hasn’t ordered Pentagon to withdraw troops from Afghanistan – The Hill
• UK Trade Minister says ’50-50′ chance Brexit may be stopped – Reuters
• Russian Ex-Spy Pressured Manafort Over Debts to an Oligarch – Time
• Austria has vowed to tax tech giants, following France’s new levy on the so-called GAFA companies: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The EU has been trying to implement a bloc-wide policy on the matter. – DW
• Russia, Turkey agree to coordinate on Syria after U.S. pullout – Rappler (anyone else hear that sucking sound?)
• Two Saudi women become first female firefighters – Arabnews

Asia/sub-Continent:

• Chinese police officers will no longer be held legally responsible for damage to the property of individuals or organisations caused in the performance of their duty – SCMP
• China’s first 100MW solar power plant was put into operation on Friday in Dunhuang City – PressTV
• The Indian government have approved $1.43 billion for its first manned space mission, set to launch in 2022 with a three-person crew. The “Gaganyaan” project—which translates to “spacecraft” in Hindi—is an orbital space mission, set to carry indigenous crew and travel for around seven days. – Newsweek
• China probe readies to land on dark side of the moon: Xinhua – Reuters
• Bangladesh Govt shuts off mobile internet(3G,4G) for the second time ahead of poll Dhaka Tribune
• China Lifted 740 Million People Out Of Poverty From 1974-2017. Pledges to Lift 10 Million Out Of Poverty In 2019. – Telesure
• 10 same-sex couples to sue Japanese government over marriage equality – JapanTimes

Land that is 2 meters from the sun/Long White Cloud:

• Record-shattering heat wave scorches Australia as temperatures reach 120 degrees | The extreme heat has spurred on health warnings, air quality alerts and fire bans across the nation – USAToday (phew, lucky there’s no climate change!)
• ‘The perfect crime’: Aussie business battles counterfeit wine in China – Following the discovery of 14,000 bottles of fake Penfolds wine for sale in China in November, Wine Australia had to concede it can’t keep track of the extent counterfeit Australian wine is being sold in the country. – The Age
• ‘We went from three-word slogans to 3,000’: Dutton unleashes on Turnbull – ABC
• Mysterious flesh-eating bacteria infects hundreds of Victorians – ABC
• NSW Government vows to ‘throw the book’ at dodgy building certifiers after Opal Tower fiasco – ABC
• The Army has a public perception problem. Here’s how it can regain trust with society – The Conversation
• Forecasting the heatwave – BOM (hasn’t been too bad here at Casa de Becker, but I feel for the rest of Oz)
• Official video from BOM HQ:

Miscellaneous:

• British cave rescue diver falsely branded ‘pedo guy’ by Elon Musk honoured by Queen – Daily Star (oh, Musky..)
•  Chinese scientist who allegedly created the first genetically engineered babies is being detained – Techcrunch
• French Resistance hero who saved hundreds of Jewish children dies aged 108 – France 24
• ‘No-one has ever been to anything like this’: NASA spacecraft to fly by distant world – ABC
• 2019 will be the year alt-meat goes mainstream – Fast Company
• The Year in Robots, From Boston Dynamics to (RIP) Baxter – Wired