Why confidence is needed

July 09, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

Greece, China, and other concerns contribute to economic uncertainty. The world needs fact-based faith in the future.

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United Airlines temporarily grounded flights across the country for part of Wednesday after experiencing computer problems, causing more than 800 delays. A White House spokesman said President Obama was briefed on the glitch and that it appeared unrelated to an outage hours later at the New York Stock Exchange. A United spokeswoman confirmed that the glitch was caused by an internal technology issue and not an outside threat.

Greece requested a new three-year rescue program from its European partners on Wednesday and rushed to complete a detailed plan of economic reforms in time to avoid the country's descent into financial chaos. With the banking system teetering on the edge of collapse, the government sought to reassure its European creditors that it would enact tax and pension reforms quickly in exchange for loans from Europe's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

A general election seen as a crucial next step for Myanmar's transition to democracy has been scheduled for Nov. 8. The military that ruled the Southeast Asian nation since 1964 scheduled Myanmar's last general election in 2010 under rules widely seen as rigging the outcome to favor a military-backed party, which won the lion's share of parliamentary seats. The nominally civilian government in office since 2011 has made lauded reforms though progress has stalled.

US supermarket chain operator Albertsons Cos Inc, which recently merged with rival Safeway, filed with US regulators on Wednesday for an initial public offering of common stock. Albertsons is owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP. Cerebus bought Safeway and merged it with Albertsons earlier this year, creating the second-largest US supermarket chain by number of stores after Kroger Co.

Microsoft will cut 7,800 jobs and take a $7.6 billion impairment charge to restructure its flagging phone hardware business. The company paid $7.3 billion for Nokia's phone business in April 2014 in an effort to focus on mobile phones and Internet services priorities for the company as its traditional software business slowed. But Microsoft's Windows Phone system has gained little traction against Apple's iPhone and Google's Android system. Now the company says it will write down more than the entire cost of buying Nokia and also take a $750 million to $850 million restructuring charge.

Oklahoma's highest criminal court on Wednesday set execution dates for three death row inmates who challenged the use of a drug that will be used in their lethal injections. The three inmates had argued that the state's planned use of a particular sedative risked subjecting them to pain and suffering because it doesn't properly render a person unconscious. But the US Supreme Court ruled last month in a 5-4 decision that the drug can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

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