China, Russia, Taiwan, Norway, Sweden, Germany

Marc Ross Daily
April 10, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits

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TOP FIVE

✔️ China and Russia go to ends of the earth for Arctic control

✔️ Taiwan under siege from blitz of Chinese cyberattacks

✔️ Cryptocurrency miners seek cheap energy in Norway and Sweden

✔️ Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to raise $9 billion

✔️ Zuckerberg to face sharp questions

GEOECONOMICS

China and Russia go to ends of the earth for Arctic control: Nikkei reports, melting ice and ample resources spark race for supremacy with US.

Taiwan under siege from blitz of Chinese cyberattacks: Asia Times reports, Taiwan has admitted that cyber attacks from China are taking a toll on the island’s digital infrastructure, with government computer systems now subjected to as many as 40 million incidents each month. 

China’s only aircraft carrier appears dovish as USS Theodore Roosevelt sails in: Asia Times reports, the capabilities of the Chinese aircraft carrier are dwarfed by the nuclear-propelled Nimitz-class ship as its US strike group sails into the South China Sea. 

FT: Xi Jinping speech offers no big concessions to Donald Trump

NYT: Xi Jinping urges dialogue, not confrontation after Trump seeks tariffs

Xi Jinping, warning of ‘cold war mentality,’ vows a more open China: WSJ reports, plans are underway to reduce tariffs on imported autos, promote further economic liberalization.

US-China talks broke down over Trump’s demands on high-tech industries: Bloomberg reports, trade talks between the world’s biggest economies broke down last week after the Trump administration demanded that China curtail support for high-technology industries, a person familiar with the situation said, signaling that a resolution may be some ways off.

Chinese investment into US slumps in 2017 on policy changes: report: Reuters reports, Chinese investment in the United States fell more than a third last year to $29 billion from a record $46 billion in 2016, the first major correction in a decade, a report by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on US-China Relations showed.

In trade fight, China today differs from 1980s Japan: WSJ reports, Tokyo never threatened to retaliate; Beijing says it is prepared to strike back.

Hundreds of years' worth of rare earths found in Japan: Nikkei reports, deposits near remote Japanese island could ease dependence on China.

Reuters: Cryptocurrency miners seek cheap energy in Norway and Sweden

Macron sparks uproar by reaching out to Catholic Church: AFP reports, Remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to repair church-state ties caused uproar Tuesday, sparking charges he was tampering with France's longstanding secular tradition. The Catholic Church and the state were for centuries virtually indistinguishable in France but the 1789 Revolution and 19th-century modernization saw the two formally separated by a 1905 law.

Bloomberg: Britons back holding a vote on May's Brexit deal

DW: Russian spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal discharged from hospital

In the shadow of the civil war in Syria, there is a separate conflict between Iran and Israel that has been intensifying. 

'Smile and nod': Latin American leaders brace for tense Trump visit: Reuters reports, Trump, who has disparaged Latin American countries over immigration, narcotics, and trade, heads to the region this week for a summit that diplomats say is likely to be awkward and tense.

Trump will arrive in the Peruvian capital, Lima, on Friday for the Summit of the Americas. 

AMERICAN POLITICS

Tonight: Frontline goes inside Trump’s high-stakes battle for control of the GOP, examining how he attacked fellow Republicans and used inflammatory rhetoric that rallied his base and further divided the country in his first year as president. Watch the trailer here: https://to.pbs.org/2ExgLL3

For Bannon, tariffs are ultimate test of Trump’s beliefs: NYT reports, if the president stands firm, his former strategist Stephen K. Bannon said, Mr. Trump will fulfill the promise of his campaign. If he retreats, he will demonstrate that the Trump movement wasn’t much of a movement after all.

The winners in Trump’s trade war? This Indiana family. The losers? The same family. WP reports, as Washington and Beijing swap threats in their escalating trade dispute, this Indiana family shows how global commerce is marbled through communities across the country. Local residents compete with, sell to and work for foreign enterprises, a reminder that in trade wars, it’s hard to shoot at the enemy without hitting a friend.

Reuters: Dallas Fed's Kaplan is hopeful rhetoric in US-China trade dispute will de-escalate

Zuckerberg to face sharp questions on Facebook’s data-privacy policies: WSJ reports, lawmakers pressing Facebook on its handling of personal user data turn their sights to Mark Zuckerberg.

Bloomberg: Zuckerberg’s ‘move fast, break things’ strategy faces scrutiny at Congress

LAT: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to apologize for his company's mistakes during his Washington testimony

“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” Zuckerberg says in prepared testimony.

ENTERPRISE

NYT: American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa will stop requiring signatures for credit card transactions

Nine West Holdings, known for its ubiquitous footwear, filed for bankruptcy on Friday mainly for having missed the athletic shoe trend. 

Adidas to close stores in online push: BOF reports, Adidas' chief executive says he expects to close down stores in the coming years as part of a shift towards selling more goods online.

"We will have fewer stores but they will be better" 

"Our website is the most important store we have in the world."

Amazon now sells more than 70 of its own private-label brands.

LAT: H&M's woes mean fast fashion is getting worse, not better

FT: Bayer and Monsanto rise on report DoJ will approve tie-up

German startup Delivery Hero worries about Amazon and Uber encroaching: HG reports, In the future, your favorite restaurant may have a menu but no tables and chairs. It may be just a kitchen with a good phone line. The CEO of Germany’s largest meal delivery service, Delivery Hero, says it is urging restaurants to open in out of the way locations to serve the growing demand for home-delivered meals. http://bit.ly/2uZ8QH9

Uber is embracing two-wheelers, too. The ride-hailing giant pedaled into the bicycle-rental market with the acquisition of New York-based Jump Bikes, reportedly for more than $100m in shares and cash. Jump offers electric bikes for $2 a ride.

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to raise $9 billion, become world’s biggest unicorn: WSJ reports, Ant Financial, carved out of Mr. Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba seven years ago, is preparing to raise $9 billion in a private funding round, up from a previous fundraising target of $5 billion.

TRENDS

Prioritizing: Giving all of your time to what seems urgent will leave you exhausted. Here’s how to know the difference between what is necessary and what is expendable. http://bit.ly/2qhjvYL

In the second quarter of 2018, digital revenue at Conde Nast is set to match print revenue for the first time.

How Germany invented the sharing economy: HG reports, the idea of a sharing economy has gained huge popularity in recent years and led to the rapid growth of disruptors such as Airbnb and Uber. It's hard to believe its roots are in the 19th-century German countryside. http://bit.ly/2GIWbO6

Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, born 200 years ago this month in western Germany, was a rural mayor who in the 1850s hit on the idea of people banding together to conduct their mutual business themselves, as owners, investors, and customers. His principle of self-help, self-governance, and self-responsibility was a sort of halfway house between capitalism and Marxism. 

CULTURE

RIP: Former Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka, the first Native Hawaiian elected to Congress who served for more than three decades, died Friday. He was 93. 

Nobody walks to LAX https://lat.ms/2GJAixY

A 2015 passenger survey shows that almost every LAX traveler arrives to get on a plane by using some other kind of vehicle. Private vehicles take 88% of them, vans and courtesy shuttles do 11%, leaving just 1% to get there via public transportation such as LAX FlyAway buses or the LAX/Aviation stop on Metro's Green Line.

LAT: Fleetwood Mac ejects Lindsey Buckingham, adds Mike Campbell and Neil Finn

Apparently, Lindsey can go his own way.

This is America’s richest zip code: Bloomberg reports, the richest zip code in America is just as exclusive and elite as the people who live there. Fisher Island, located just off the coast of Miami, is accessible only by ferry or water taxi and is a haven for the world’s richest. The 216-acre island has diverse residents, representing over 50 nationalities and professions ranging from professional athletes and supermodels to executives and lawyers. https://bloom.bg/2Hqmrdd

SPORT

Played 26, lost 26: The story of Antigua Barracuda's record-breaking season: The USL side lost every game of the 2013 season, based in a hotel and playing every game away, but their fighting spirit earned their opponents’ respect. http://bit.ly/2GOlXwh

Woods and Nicklaus are the only draws in golf: 538 reports, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are the only two players where high finishes have a statistically significant effect on Sunday ratings for the Masters tournament. When Tiger finished in the top 10, the average rating was a 10.0, and when Jack finished in the top ten the average rating was a 9.5.

Duke is No. 1 in way-too-early AP rankings for 2018-19.

Here's the rest of the top ten:

1. Duke
2. Kansas
3. Villanova
4. Kentucky
5. North Carolina
6. Gonzaga
7. Auburn
8. Virginia
9. Tennessee
10. Nevada