Kashmir, Jeremy Corbyn, North Korea, Beto O'Rourke, Illumina, Puma
Marc Ross Daily
February 28, 2019
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross
Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia
Marc Ross Daily = News + Analysis at the Intersection of Globalization + Disruption + Politics
TOP FIVE
✔️ Pakistani military says it shot down 2 Indian warplanes
✔️ Glastonbury festival bans sale of single-use plastic bottles
✔️ Toledo votes to give Lake Erie personhood status over algae blooms
✔️ FedEx will soon start testing robots that could make same-day deliveries
✔️ Puma will become official uniform supplier for Manchester City
GLOBALIZATION
NYT: Pakistani military says it shot down 2 Indian warplanes
Guardian: India calls forimmediate return of pilot shot down by Pakistan over Kashmir
CNBC: Pakistan claims it shot down 2 Indian planes, captured pilot
DW: Nuclear fears abound after India-Pakistan military escalation
India's ambassador to France, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, told France 24 on Wednesday that Pakistan is "100 percent responsible for where we are right now", saying there is zero evidence that Islamabad has taken action against terror groups.
Pakistan’s ambassador to France, Moin ul Haque, told France 24 on Wednesday that despite the decision to shoot down two Indian jets in retaliation for air strikes on Pakistani soil, Islamabad is committed “not to escalate" but rather "to defuse the situation". Pakistan's response to what he called an "unfortunate act of aggression" was "clearly part of ourself-defence", he said.
WSJ: US drops threat of 25% tariffs on Chinese goods
US official: Much work remains to reach US-China trade deal: AP reports, “Much still needs to be done before an agreement can be reached,” US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said. “If we can complete this effort, and again I say if, and can reach a satisfactory solution to the issue of enforceability ... we might have an agreement that turns the corner in our economic relationship with China.”
Bloomberg: Trump’s trade czar urges patience on China deal president craves
Senate inquiry finds problems with China-funded Confucius Institute at US campuses: LAT reports, after an eight-month probe, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations described systemic problems in the institute’s language programs, saying they lack transparency, threaten academic freedom and give the Chinese government access to the U.S. education system that China does not extend to American programs.
German cyber chief backs ‘no spy’ deal over Huawei: FT reports, remarks suggest Berlin could allow Chinese company to take part in network roll-out.
EU scrambles to stop Russian interference in elections: FT reports, cyber security experts report sudden uptick in state-sponsored hacking activity.
WSJ: Trump, Kim end summit early with no pact
‘I am never afraid to walk away from a deal,’ Trump says
Trump and Kim failed to reach an agreement at a second summit aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program.
NYT: Trump’s talks with Kim Jong-un collapse over North Korean sanctions
FT: Trump and Kim fail to reach denuclearisation deal
Hanoi summit abruptly cut short on second day of talks.
LAT: ‘Sometimes you have to walk’: Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un ends without a deal
FT: Labour party formally backs new referendum on Brexit
Jeremy Corbyn announces shift after his own plan is defeated in parliament
UK Parliament to decide between 'no deal' and delay: DW reports, UK lawmakers have voiced their support for a three-step plan that could allow them to delay the UK's departure from the EU. MPs rejected an alternative plan that had been proposed by the opposition Labour Party.
Martin Wolf: A second Brexit referendum is now essential: If democracy means anything, it means a country’s right to change its mind.
DISRUPTION
Glastonbury festival bans sale of single-use bottles: The Glastonbury festival will ban the sale of single-use plastic bottles this year, it said yesterday. Plastic bottles will not be supplied backstage, in dressing rooms or to production and catering staff, according to its website.
US companies put record number of robots to work in 2018: Reuters reports, US companies installed more robots last year than ever before, as cheaper and more flexible machines put them within reach of businesses of all sizes and in more corners of the economy beyond their traditional foothold in car plants.
Venice imposes entry fee for day-trippers: DW reports, from May, millions of day trippers to Italy's ancient, lagoon city will have to pay an entry fee. The price is set to double in 2020 and be used to keep the ancient islands clean.
There are 25 million visitors to the city of Venice in northern Italy each year. Of these about 14 million stay just for a day, and often bring their own picnics.
POLITICS
AP: Cohen says Trump behaved 'much like a mobster would do'
NYT: Michael Cohen accuses Trump of expansive pattern of lies and criminality
LAT: Cohen delivers warning to GOP lawmakers now attacking him: Don’t ‘blindly’ follow Trump
CNBC: Michael Cohen: 'I fear' Trump won't peacefully give up the White House if he loses the 2020 election
WP: The economy expanded 2.9 percent in 2018, beating previous years but missing Trump’s goal
US economy grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter.
Bloomberg: Beto O'Rourke says he's decided on 2020, will announce plans soon
As Biden weighs 2020 bid, Democrats ask: 'Does he meet the moment?' Reuters reports, former US Vice President Joe Biden said this week he was “very close” to deciding whether to make a 2020 White House bid and will run only if he thinks he can win the Democratic Party’s nomination.
Jonathan Bernstein: How to handicap the 2020 race: Forget polls and fundraising totals. Here’s how to tell who’s really a contender. https://bloom.bg/2T5E2zX
High-profile endorsements are one useful measure.
Another metric to follow is which candidates have signed up campaign professionals with deep ties to the party; a strong candidacy will draw staffers who have worked for a range of same-party candidates, demonstrating a coalition-style campaign.
WP: The popular vote could decide the 2020 presidential election, if these states get their way
Colorado is set to become the latest member of a group of states banding together to bypass the electoral college system.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact — which already has 11 states and the District of Columbia on board — would hand the 2020 presidential election to whoever wins the popular vote. But it would only take effect if states representing at least 270 electoral college votes pass the law.
Toledo votes to give Lake Erie personhood status over algae blooms: Guardian reports, this week, more than four years after the devastating algae bloom in 2014 that cut off drinking water for 500,000 people, Toledo voters passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, a unique charter amendment that establishes the huge lake as a person and grants it the legal rights that a human being or corporation would have.
New law will allow people of Toledo to act as legal guardians for Lake Erie, and polluters could be sued to pay for cleanup costs.
The final results weren’t even close, as it passed by a 61% to 39% margin.
COMMERCE
Southwest gets FAA OK for flights to Hawaii from California.
Uber + Lyft are planning to give some drivers the chance to take part in their initial public offerings.
FedEx will soon start testing robots that could make same-day deliveries of medicine, pizzas and other items to consumers’ homes.
How Huawei tried to sell itself to Motorola for $7.5bn: 2003 deal between Chinese group and US partner would have changed course of telecoms history. https://on.ft.com/2T7rf04
Huawei racked up a slew of deals to sell 5G equipment at the world's top mobile fair in Spain despite Washington's campaign to convince its allies bar the firm from their next-generation wireless networks.
Weight Watchers calls on Oprah to help sell wellness after abrupt name change to WW left people confused.
OneWeb launches first internet satellites in race with SpaceX.
Illumina's first machines, introduced in 2006, could decode a full human genome for about $300,000. A model released in 2014 can do so for about $1,000 and has made DNA sequencing widespread, helping diagnose diseases and find new drugs. The company’s latest machines could one day bring the cost close to $100.
British Airways announced a multi-billion dollar order for up to 42 Boeing 777 fuel-efficient passenger jets, just two weeks after Airbus said it would no longer make its A380 superjumbo.
CULTURE
WP: ‘Februburied:’ Up to 25 feet of snow has fallen in mountains on the West Coast this February
Rembrandt in the blood: An obsessive aristocrat, rediscovered paintings and an art-world feud: No one had spotted a new painting by the Dutch master for four decades — until the scion of a storied Amsterdam family found two.https://nyti.ms/2T7qpjW
‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ is being revived by Fox — with a twist: LAT reports, members of the original cast of “Beverly Hills, 90210” are returning for a six-episode event series on Fox. Nineteen years after the popular young adult drama wrapped its run, Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, and Tori Spelling are reuniting on TV.
SPORT
AP: Johnny Manziel released, barred from other CFL teams
Angels owner Arte Moreno says he is interested in buying the two local Fox Sports outlets — FS West and Prime Ticket.
Puma will become the official uniform supplier to reigning English Premier League soccer champions Manchester City.
Puma CEO says the partnership with the team is "the largest deal that we have ever done."