Politico: Emmanuel Macron’s choice: Merkel over fast reforms

Before implementing the tax overhauls Macron promised during his presidential campaign, the government led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will first make sure the French budget deficit is brought under the EU-imposed limit of 3 percent of GDP — for the first time in years.

The new president’s emphasis on tackling the deficit to the detriment of tax reform may help reassure the German government of Angela Merkel that it’s at last dealing with a fiscally serious French counterpart, as both countries want to restart the Paris-Berlin motor for Europe. France’s budget deficit has been above the 3 percent limit in 13 of the 18 years since the threshold was adopted, as economist Charles Wyplosz recently noted. [...]

“They had a choice: Forget about the 3 percent, blame Hollande for the miss and start right away on tax cuts; or play the credibility card. They chose the latter,” said a Treasury official, adding that he was happy with the decision.

“There was a debate in French government circles between economists favoring reforms and growth and the Treasury guys intent on the 3 percent limit, and the Treasury guys won,” noted Gilles Moëc, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. [...]

Another reform — the exoneration of financial holdings from France’s infamous wealth tax — has also been delayed until 2019, even though Philippe promised it will be voted along with the 2018 budget, in October.

As for the labor reforms, they will continue unabated, the former Macron campaign economist noted. Macron chose the labor market overhaul as the international symbol of France’s ability to reform its economy. But according to most economists, it will have a limited impact on actual jobless numbers.

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CityLab: Where the Dogs Are in New York

So Rattner, a 24-year-old tech worker and former professional dog-walker, conducted an experiment to test his suspicion of living in the center of the pooch universe. Inspired by WNYC’s 2013 “Dogs of NYC” project, he dove into the extensive public database of licensed dogs (New Yorkers are required to license their hounds, though only about a fifth do) and created a map of dog densities for ZIP codes in every borough. “While a record of New York dogs may not be the most impactful or powerful public database available, it may be the most fun one,” he says.

The results jolted him. The East Village isn’t even in the top 30 most dog-intensive neighborhoods. “It turns out there are other residents sidestepping leashes and droppings more frequently than I am.” A vast furbelt extends across southern Staten Island, for instance, perhaps because people there have something called “yards.” There’s also a concentrated zone of dogginess in the northeast Bronx. But Manhattan does claim 9 of the 10 top dog-infested ZIPs. Brooklyn doesn’t show up until number 24 and Queens makes its first appearance at 27. “If you hate dogs, get out of Manhattan.”

A couple things might explain the island’s canine fecundity, starting with a possible correlation between wealth and pet ownership. “If you look at the top ZIP codes most densely populated by dogs, they are in neighborhoods across downtown Manhattan, the Upper West and Upper East sides, Greenwich Village, and Chelsea,” Rattner says. “These are pricey places to live and, in some cases, are among America's most-expensive ZIP codes. Owning a dog is expensive, and it’s not an affordable luxury to everyone in the city.”

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Al Jazeera: On terrorism, Basque nationalism and a 'bar brawl'

Altsasu, a sleepy Basque town in Spain's northernmost province of Navarre, was shocked on July 4, when a prosecutor's office announced (PDF) that eight of its residents will be facing a total of 375 years in prison on terrorism charges. The eight young Basques had a fight with two civil guards and their girlfriends in a local bar in the early hours of October 15, 2016. Three of the defendants have been under arrest since November 2016.

The eight young men and a woman are facing charges of "terrorist injury" and "terrorist threat" for being involved in what many activists consider a simple "bar brawl", possibly motivated by historical tensions between Basque nationalists and the Civil Guard. [...]

According to the Civil Guard and a considerable number of conservative Spanish newspapers, anyone who demands the withdrawal of the guards from Altsasu, including the eight young Basques involved in last year's "bar brawl", are part of the "ETA environment".

According to human rights activists, however, such accusations are nothing more than an extension of the Spanish judiciary and government's controversial theory dubbed "everything is ETA". [...]

Both the regional government of Navarre and the city council of Altsasu have already rejected the "terrorism" charges eight young Basques are facing. The provincial court also decided that the "bar fight" between the defendants and the members of the Civil Guard did not amount to "terrorism" and insisted that the case should be conducted locally. But the Spanish National Court chose to override the decisions of local authorities and charged the defendants with offences related to "terrorism" anyway.

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The Conversation: Islamophobia is still raising its ugly head in Australia

The main reason why Islamophobia has not been taken seriously could be due to the lack of quality data on the issue. Most research to date focused on surveys conducted on the negative sentiments of non-Muslims. But our new study reports on actual Islamophobic incidents, and stands to change how Islamophobia is viewed in Australia.

The report is based on 243 cases of verified Islamophobic incidents collected over 14 months in 2014-15. In this respect, this is the first study of its kind anywhere in the world. [...]

The simplest definition of Islamophobia is the special form of racism revealing “indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam and Muslims”. An Islamophobic incident is any act comprising of abusive hatred, vilification and violence inflicted on Muslims going about their daily lives. [...]

Women, especially those with Islamic head covering (79.6% of the female victims), have been the main targets of Islamophobia. One-in-three female victims had their children with them at the time of the reported incident. [...]

Of the perpetrators, 98% were identified by those who reported it as ethnically Anglo-Celtic. Perpetrators were three times more likely to be male. While lone males were more likely to be the perpetrator, lone Muslim women tended to be the victims. [...]

Significantly, evidence presented in the report suggests that Islamophobia is not rooted in Islamic terrorism as previously thought but rooted in Muslims’ presence in Australia.

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Politico: Why the G20 violence is good for Merkel

For Germans watching on television, the three nights of anarchy served as a dramatic reminder of the fragility of their country’s political and social stability. The political impact of the Hamburg riots has yet to fully unfold. But with national elections scheduled for September, it is already plentifully clear that the fallout will be severe. [...]

The pre-election debate has so far revolved mostly around taxation, social benefits, public investment and same-sex marriage. But after the events in Hamburg, issues of domestic security have snapped back into focus. Very likely, they will be the ones that decide the election’s winners.

Perhaps ironically, given that it was Chancellor Angela Merkel who brought the summit to Hamburg, this dynamic will favor German conservatives. Citizens consistently rate Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), as most competent on questions of domestic security. [...]

Casting further doubt on the already slim prospects of a left-of-center coalition unseating Merkel, the SPD’s preferred coalition partners — the Greens and the Left party — will also face backlash from the violence. In their initial responses, both parties appeared reluctant to condemn violent protesters, while putting responsibility for the escalation squarely on the police. This is likely to alienate the many moderates, pragmatists and realists among their potential supporters, and to accelerate the political marginalization of both parties.

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