1 IMF cuts Eurozone growth forecast (Khaleej Times) The
International Monetary Fund cut its eurozone growth outlook for the next two
years over uncertainties sparked by Britain's vote to leave the European Union,
and warned that the conditions could worsen if confusion continues to reign in
financial markets.
In its annual policy review of the 19-country euro
currency bloc, the IMF said it now expects 2016 growth of 1.6 per cent, down
from the previous forecast of 1.7 per cent, while the 2017 growth forecast will
drop to 1.4 per cent from 1.7 per cent previously.
In its annual policy review, the IMF said a further
global growth slowdown could derail the euro area's domestic demand-led
recovery, and further Brexit spillovers, the refugee surge, increased security
concerns and banking weakness all could take their toll on growth.
But IMF European Department deputy director Mahmood
Pradhan said that if the separation negotiations drag out between the EU and
the UK and continue to cause risk reductions in financial markets, euro area
growth would slow further.
2 US divided by race (Jon Swaine & Tom Dart in
The Guardian) The assassination of five police officers by a black army veteran
in Dallas who told authorities he “wanted to kill white people” threatens to
snap tense relations between law enforcement and African Americans that have
now been at breaking point for almost two years.
Barack Obama will abandon a European tour and travel
to Dallas early next week. The president will return to lead a nation grappling
with a racial divide wider than it has been for at least a generation, and
struggling with the frequent boiling over of unrest that has been simmering
since the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson,
Missouri, in the summer of 2014.
Dallas police chief, David Brown, said the
25-year-old gunman, Micah Xavier Johnson, said he was “upset about the recent
police shootings”, “upset about Black Lives Matter”, and “upset at white
people”. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, declared that
“racial tensions have gotten worse, not better” under Obama’s leadership.
A Pew poll last month found 84% of black Americans
believe police treat blacks unfairly, compared with 50% of white respondents.
While more than two-thirds of African Americans support the Black Lives Matter
movement, a minority of white people – and just 20% of Republicans – feel the
same way.
3 More uncertainty as Tata UK sale on hold (BBC) The
sale of Tata Steel's UK business is on hold as the company considers a European
tie-up, creating further uncertainty for British steelworkers In Mumbai, Tata
said it had started talks with "strategic players in the steel
industry".
They include the German company Thyssenkrupp. Tata
said the uncertainty created by Brexit was a factor in its deliberations. The
company declared its intention to sell all or part of its UK business in March.
It employs more than 4,000 workers at its plant in Port Talbot in Wales and
over 2,000 more at its speciality businesses in Hartlepool, Rotherham and
Stocksbridge.
A shortlist of seven potential buyers was drawn up
in May, but one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the sale of the UK business
has been the legacy of the British steel pension fund which Tata inherited when
it bought the business in 2007. It has 130,000 members and a deficit of £700m.
The government has been trying to break the impasse
by launching a consultation on drawing up special legislation to lower pension
benefits for many of the pension fund's members. European steelmakers have been
struggling to compete with cheaper imports of steel from China and a fall in
steel prices on the world market.
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