Bloomberg
China Weighs Slowing or Halting Purchases of U.S. Treasuries
China added to bond investors’ jitters on Wednesday as traders braced for what they feared could be the end of a three-decade bull market.
Senior government officials in Beijing reviewing the nation’s foreign-exchange holdings have recommended slowing or halting purchases of U.S. Treasuries, according to people familiar with the matter. The news comes as global debt markets were already selling off amid signs that central banks are starting to step back after years of bond-buying stimulus. Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose for a fifth day, touching the highest since March.
White House Rejects Senate Immigration Proposal, Seeks Changes
The Trump administration rejected a bipartisan Senate proposal to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation, saying it needed more work.
“We’re pleased that bipartisan members are talking,” President Donald Trump’s congressional liaison Marc Short said Thursday, but added, “I think there’s still a ways to go.”
Short said the administration is concerned about a number of issues including the amount of protection at the U.S.-Mexico border and family preferences for immigrants. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, "We still believe we can get there."
Washington Post
Trump’s history of making offensive comments about nonwhite immigrants
Trump appears to have a habit of making offensive comments about nonwhite immigrants. And while many of his surrogates argue that the president is not against this particular population, there is a trail of comments that tell a different story.
The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reported Thursday that Trump made a comment about wanting more immigrants from places like Norway rather than from “shithole counties” like Haiti and those in Africa.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” he told lawmakers during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday, according to two people briefed on the session.
The Chinese are now buying as much stuff as Americans, a game-changer for the world economy
The mighty force of consumerism has taken hold in China. In 2018, retail sales in China are expected to equal or surpass sales in the United States for the first time, another definitive marker in China's rise to economic superpower status. […]
Retail sales in China are on track to hit just over $5.8 trillion this year, according to Mizuho, a Japanese bank. It's a stunning rise from a decade ago, when retail sales in China were a quarter of those in the United States. China's rapidly growing middle class has been eager to buy brand-name clothes, cars and cellphones, among other products. Shanghai is now referred to in fashion circles as “Paris of the East.” Their spending habits have been supported by fatter paychecks, with China's income per capita jumping from about $2,000 a year a decade ago to over $8,000 a year now.
“China's best bargaining chip is its massive and fast-growing domestic market,” says Jianguang Shen, chief China economist for Mizuho, who pointed out the retail trend in a recent presentation in Washington, D.C. “This will change the balance (of power) tremendously, as it is first time when the U.S. is dealing with a market of equal size in a potential trade war.”
Air Force deployed B-2 stealth bombers to Guam as sensitive talks involving North Korea commenced
The U.S. Air Force deployed three stealth B-2 Spirit bombers to Guam this week as discussions between the North and South Koreans involving the Winter Olympics were about to commence, a move that the service says was scheduled in advance but came at a particularly sensitive time. […]
They are part of what the U.S. military characterized as a short-term deployment that is part of the Pentagon’s bomber assurance and deterrence mission in the Pacific. The Air Force has rotated bombers in the Pacific for 15 years in a show of support for its allies in the region.
But the deployment of B-2s during the Winter Olympics — and shortly after President Trump taunted North Korea by tweeting Jan. 2 that his “Nuclear Button” was bigger than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s — may be seen as inflammatory in the region. The planes have stealth technology and the ability to carry nuclear weapons, something that the B-1B Lancer bombers deployed to Guam last year do not have.
Schiff lays out Republican efforts to block access in Russia probe
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday detailed a list of witnesses and documents Democrats say Republicans have kept them from accessing during the panel’s Russia investigation, and blamed the committee’s chairman and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) for attempting to end the probe before it is complete.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said that committee Republicans had blocked Democrats’ efforts to subpoena Deutsche Bank for financial records related to President Trump’s family on the suspicion that Russians “may have laundered money through Trump properties.” Democrats also were stymied in their effort to subpoena executives at Twitter, Schiff said, to secure the direct messages that members of Trump’s inner circle exchanged with representatives of WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, who Democrats believe acted as Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Schiff said that Republicans were unwilling to press those members of the Trump team who participated in a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower for a complete record of their communications over email, telephone, and encrypted applications.
The Wall Street Murdoch Journal
U.S. Military to Bulk Up in Afghanistan With Drones, Troops
The Pentagon is planning to bolster the Trump administration’s new approach in Afghanistan by reallocating drones and other hardware while sending in around 1,000 new combat advisers, U.S. and military officials said. […]
These moves all accelerate President Donald Trump’s decision last August to approve some 4,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, bringing the number of American personnel to about 14,000. The additional security-force assistance units could push that number higher, although other forces could be withdrawn at the same time. […]
That shift grew out of a request by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that Army Gen. Joseph Votel, chief of the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, recommend ways to rethink the military capabilities those countries will require over time.
The Guardian
Donald Trump visit to London called off amid fears of mass protests
Donald Trump has backed off the idea of visiting Britain next month to open the new US embassy in London amid fears of mass protests.
Government sources suggested that Washington had signalled that secretary of state Rex Tillerson would instead open the multimillion-pound embassy. […]
With activists pledging to stage mass protests and MPs determined not to give the president the opportunity to address parliament, no date for a state visit has been set.
Iran nuclear deal: Trump to make a final decision, says Rex Tillerson
The fate of the nuclear deal with Iran will hang in the balance once more on Friday, when Donald Trump must decide whether to continue sanctions relief for Tehran or violate the 2015 agreement.
The secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, told reporters that Trump, who has repeatedly described it as the “worst deal ever”, would make a final decision on Thursday, after an afternoon meeting with his top foreign policy and national security officials, who all favour preserving the agreement. […]
Even if he does continue to waive sanctions, Trump could also say or do something on Friday that would take the US closer to noncompliance.
Dreamers react to Trump's Daca dispute: 'we feel like bargaining chips'
Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation, but that very population was left confused and frustrated this week by US lawmakers and courts responding to the president’s demands.
A federal court on Tuesday night blocked the Trump administration from terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program that allowed 800,000 immigrants to work and go to school in the US without fear of deportation. Hours earlier, the president had a rare televised meeting with lawmakers about how to protect this population. […]
Daca recipient Jung Woo Kim, 33, said he was disappointed with how both parties spoke about Dreamers in the meeting as though they were “bargaining chips”. “I don’t think they speak the language we speak,” he said.
Los Angeles Times
Rat poison from marijuana farms is harming federally threatened northern spotted owls, study finds
The northern spotted owl has had many adversaries. […]
Now, a new menace is taking root among the ancient trees: unpermitted marijuana farms suspected of spreading rat poison up the owl’s food chain, according to a study led by researchers at UC Davis in cooperation with the California Academy of Sciences.
“We have discovered a new potentially lethal threat to this struggling species that many conservationists have spent decades trying to save from extinction,” said Mourad Gabriel, lead author of the study and a researcher with the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center.
Seven of 10 spotted owls and 34 of 84 barred owls collected between 2009 and 2013 tested positive for anticoagulant rodenticides, the study published Thursday in the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology shows.
Trump administration to allow states to require some Medicaid patients to work to be eligible
The Trump administration cleared the way Thursday for states to impose work requirements on many Americans who depend on Medicaid, the mammoth government health insurance program for the poor.
The much-anticipated move - which was strongly condemned by patient advocates, physicians and consumer groups — would mark the first time in the program’s half-century history that the government will require people to work in exchange for health coverage. In states that decide to impose the new requirement, it is widely expected to shrink Medicaid rolls.
The new plan sets the stage for a potentially long and contentious legal battle over the shape and purpose of a health program that more than 70 million Americans now depend on.
Kansas City Star
Greitens faces criminal inquiry, calls for resignation after blackmail allegations
The prosecutor for the city of St. Louis will investigate blackmail allegations against Gov. Eric Greitens that threaten to end his political career.
The allegations, first reported by KMOV in St. Louis, surfaced shortly after Greitens delivered his annual State of the State address Wednesday night. The ex-husband of Greitens’ mistress gave the TV station an audio recording of the woman confessing the affair and accusing Greitens of blindfolding her and taking a nude photo against her will to blackmail her into silence.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner announced late Thursday afternoon that her office would launch an investigation into Greitens’ actions.
Proposal would give an average of $20,000 to every baby born in the U.S.
Two economists have a proposal that they say would help to lessen income inequality in the United States: Give every baby thousands of dollars when they’re born.
The proposal was presented by Darrick Hamilton of the New School and William Darity of Duke University at a conference held last weekend by the American Economic Association.
Hamilton said by email that the proposal envisions giving babies born in the U.S. an average of $20,000 — and up to as much as $60,000 — that can be accessed once they turn 18. The money would be managed by the federal government and would be invested throughout childhood, to be used in adulthood for asset-building endeavors like purchasing a home, starting a business or financing a college education.
The Seattle Times
Inslee seeks meeting with interior secretary to try to shield Washington waters from drilling
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke this week removed Florida’s coastal waters from a draft plan for oil and gas drilling. Now Gov. Jay Inslee wants the same consideration for Washington’s offshore waters.
In a letter sent Thursday to Zinke, Gov. Jay Inslee requested his own meeting with Zinke to make a case for protecting Washington’s waters from oil and gas exploration. “I believe that every state should be granted a similar opportunity to protect its marine and coastal water,’’ he wrote. He noted that Washington, like Florida, has a strong coastal tourism and recreation economy that could be harmed by an oil spill, and that he previously requested Washington not be included in new lease sales.
The Oregonian
Kate Brown blasts Trump admin's offshore drilling proposals in CNN interview
The White House isn't returning Kate Brown's phone calls.
That's what Oregon's Democratic governor told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday evening, one day after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced that the Trump administration was removing Florida from the list of states it was considering for an expansion of offshore oil drilling operations.
Zinke made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday, citing a meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott as a motivating factor in the decision.
"How about doing the same for Oregon?" Brown asked the interior secretary with a retweet.
Oregon Public Broadcasting News
Wyden Calls For Audit Into Zinke's Use Of Wildfire Funds For Unrelated Travel
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is calling for an investigation into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s misuse of wildfire preparedness funds after news reports revealed Zinke used the funds for unrelated travel. […]
Wyden wants clearer answers and, in a letter, called on the office of the inspector general to conduct an audit of Interior Department spending from the preparedness sub account since Zinke took office.
Star Tribune
Judge throws out Minnesota proposal intended to protect wild rice
Industry and environmental groups — incongruously — both celebrated the same major victory Thursday after an administrative law judge threw out a proposed state rule to protect wild rice in Minnesota.
The proposed rule, which has sparked fierce political fights and multiple lawsuits since the state began writing it in 2010, was designed to regulate sulfate, a mineral salt that damages wild rice; it is produced by taconite mines, wastewater treatment plants and other industries. While the state’s rule is specific to wild rice, sulfate also plays a part in converting mercury into a form that is taken up by fish, creating significant health risks for pregnant women and children.
The proposal, written by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), was bitterly opposed by Minnesota’s Indian tribes, environmental groups, industry and wastewater treatment operators. But they had different reasons.
The Times-Picayune
Twelfth Night Revelers festively kick off Carnival 2018
For New Orleanians, the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany (King's Day) is a period of rest, as well as planning, because on King's Day, Jan. 6, Carnival kicks off, and with that a nonstop flurry of parades, balls, king cake, feasting and feting.
One such tradition is upheld by the Twelfth Night Revelers, a group which has been hosting a Carnival parade and ball since 1870. (The group stopped parading in 1876.)
Denver Post
Colorado says mine can continue polluting creek above a Denver drinking water reservoir
Colorado health officials have granted Climax Molybdenum a third extension of a “temporary” lifting of the state’s health limit for molybdenum pollution of a creek, allowing continued elevated discharges above Denver’s drinking water supplies.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment water-quality commissioners voted unanimously this week to give Climax until June 2020 to meet state standards.
The delay, commissioners said, will give time for Climax to resolve scientific uncertainty around how much molybdenum is too much for people. They also said Climax must use the extra time to work toward reducing the pollution of Ten Mile Creek to acceptable levels.
Ars Technica
Filibuster threat means Trump needs Senate Democrats to pass spying bill
The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would extend a controversial government spying power known as "Section 702" for another six years—without new privacy safeguards that had been sought by civil liberties groups.
Debate over the legislation now shifts over to the Senate, where it faces a filibuster threat from both Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
"If this Section 702 bill comes to the Senate, I will filibuster it," Wyden wrote in a tweet shortly after the House bill passed.
Wyden opposes the legislation because he believes that it offers too few protections for Americans' privacy rights. The powers granted by Section 702 are only supposed to be used against foreigners on foreign soil. But an American's communications can get swept up in the NSA's surveillance dragnet if they communicate with people overseas. Privacy advocates have championed an amendment to impose new privacy safeguards on the use of Section 702. But it was voted down by the House on Thursday. […]
Wyden and Paul's filibuster threats mean that it will take 60 votes
Here’s how, and why, the Spectre and Meltdown patches will hurt performance
As the industry continues to grapple with the Meltdown and Spectre attacks, operating system and browser developers in particular are continuing to develop and test schemes to protect against the problems. Simultaneously, microcode updates to alter processor behavior are also starting to ship.
Since news of these attacks first broke, it has been clear that resolving them is going to have some performance impact. Meltdown was presumed to have a substantial impact, at least for some workloads, but Spectre was more of an unknown due to its greater complexity. With patches and microcode now available (at least for some systems), that impact is now starting to become clearer. The situation is, as we should expect with these twin attacks, complex.
Vox
Puerto Rico’s most ambitious push yet for statehood, explained
A "shadow" congressional delegation of seven politicians from Puerto Rico traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and demanded they be recognized as voting members of Congress. Five of them would represent Puerto Rico in the House, and two in the Senate.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló modeled this plan after Alaska’s push for statehood in 1956, and it was a major part of his campaign for governor. (Tennessee was the first territory to use this strategy in 1795, and it's now known as the “Tennessee Plan.”) […]
"[Puerto Ricans] are being denied the full benefits of citizenship," said Puerto Rico's only nonvoting member of Congress, Jenniffer González-Colón on the House floor Wednesday. "We deserve and demand statehood for Puerto Rico now."
Deutsche Welle
Iran: Nuclear deal relies on 'full compliance' from US
Britain, France, Germany and the European Union called for the United States to uphold the Iran nuclear deal on Thursday, following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and his German, French and British counterparts, before the United States makes a decision on sanctions tomorrow.
After the meeting, Zarif said Iran's promise to curb its nuclear program under the deal signed with six world powers was "conditioned on full compliance" from the US.
Brexit: Berlin nixes UK plea for bespoke banking deal
The German government on Wednesday sought to pour cold water over Britain's hopes of a bespoke post-Brexit arrangement for financial services.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman told reporters that Berlin's focus would remain on preserving a unified stance among the 27 EU nations as Brexit negotiations prepare to enter a critical phase. Britain's financial services industry is expected to be one the main battlegrounds in the next stage of talks.
"We have always stressed the importance of the unity of the EU 27 ...this will continue to be our focus," Steffen Seibert told reporters.
BBC News
Fujimori: New rallies against Peru ex-president's pardon
New rallies have been held across Peru against the decision to pardon former President Alberto Fujimori.
In the capital Lima, students, trade unionists and human rights activists marched amid a heavy police presence. The protesters were demanding not only the quashing of the pardon but also the resignation of President Pablo Kuczynski, who granted it.
Fujimori, who was serving 25 years for human rights abuses and corruption, was pardoned on Christmas Eve.
This is the fourth time thousands of Peruvians marched to show their contempt for what they said was political collusion at the top.
Reuters
Putin says 'shrewd and mature' North Korean leader has 'won this round'
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “shrewd and mature” and had won the latest standoff with the West over his nuclear and missile programs.
“I think that Mr Kim Jong Un has obviously won this round. He has completed his strategic task: he has a nuclear weapon, he has missiles of global reach, up to 13,000 km, which can reach almost any point of the globe,” Putin told Russian journalists at a televised meeting. […]
“He is already a shrewd and mature politician,” Putin said.
'A mad scramble': How Trump tweet on Pakistan blindsided U.S. officials
A surprise New Year’s Day tweet by … Donald Trump in which he appeared to decree an end to U.S. aid for Pakistan, sent U.S. officials scrambling to suspend security assistance without even knowing how much aid they were freezing, four U.S. officials said.
The decision to freeze up to about $2 billion in security aid, according to a later estimate by U.S. officials, to a nuclear-armed ally is the latest example of how, nearly a year into Trump’s presidency, U.S. officials sometimes have to scurry to turn his tweets into policy. […]
“None of the elements of a coherent policy was in place, or even close at hand, when the president, in effect, made a policy announcement,” said one U.S. official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity. “Despite a mad scramble to backfill a tweet, we still don’t have ... an effective policy in place.”
Mexico will never pay for Trump wall: Mexican economy minister
Mexico has made clear it will never pay for … Donald Trump’s planned southern border wall, the country’s economy minister said on Thursday, after the U.S. leader again insisted he would make Mexico pay for the barrier.
“The President of Mexico (Enrique Pena Nieto) has been very clear: Mexico will never pay for this wall,” Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo wrote on Twitter after a day of meetings in Washington.