News Headlines - 05 May 2018

▽White House calls China’s threats to airlines ‘Orwellian nonsense’ - The Washington Post

On April 25, the Chinese government sent dozens of international airlines a written threat of severe punishments if they don’t change their websites to declare that Taiwan is part of China, among other things. I have obtained a copy of the letter. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to release a press statement calling the Chinese government’s threats “political correctness” run amok.

▽Argentina Central Bank Boosts Main Rate to 40% in Third Rise in Eight Days - WSJ

Argentina’s central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the third time in eight days Friday in an attempt to prop up its faltering currency, as the country finds itself once again battling a financial crisis.
The central bank raised its main interest rate by 6.75 percentage points, following increases of 3 percentage points on Thursday and last Friday. The moves helped stabilize the peso Friday, but with a policy rate noe at 40%, the prospects for economic growth are more uncertatin.

▽H&M, Zara ditch mohair wool after animal cruelty expose

H&M, Gap, as well as the parent companies of Zara and Topshop, said they would stop using the material following a report from the animal rights group PETA.
PETA on Tuesday published an expose of alleged animal cruelty at 12 goat farms in South Africa. The country produces more than half of the world's mohair, according to its agriculture ministry.

▽Tesla shares, bonds drop as CEO Musk bites hand of Wall Street | Reuters

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk’s refusal to answer “boring” Wall Street questions about finances sent the electric vehicle maker’s shares down as much as 7 percent on Thursday, jarring investors and raising concerns about its ability to raise money in the future... In a conference call on Wednesday, Musk refused to answer questions from analysts on Tesla’s capital requirements, saying “boring questions are not cool.”

▽NASA launches InSight lander toward Mars - CBS News

In a first for the West Coast, an Atlas 5 rocket boosted a robotic Mars lander into space Saturday, the first step in a six-and-a-half month voyage to the red planet for a two-year, $1 billion mission to monitor marsquakes, probe the temperature of the core and map the planet's hidden interior.