News Headlines - 02 July 2019

▽Italy Cuts 2019 Deficit Goal to 2% in Bid to Avoid EU Censure - Bloomberg

Italy’s populist government lowered its 2019 budget deficit in a bid to avoid European Union sanctions for failing to rein in debt, pushing bond yields to the lowest in a year.
The deficit is now expected to be 2.04% of economic output... A draft budget in April envisaged a shortfall of 2.4%... Ministers meeting in Rome on Monday agreed that deficit would fall by 7.6 billion euros ($8.6 billion) this year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. That’s due to higher revenues and lower spending, including 1.5 billion euros previously set aside for social programs in which demand has been lower than expected.

▽Olly Robbins: UK’s lead Brexit negotiator ‘set to quit role this summer’ | The Independent

Olly Robbins, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, is set to quit his role this summer.
The civil servant will reportedly leave his role shortly after briefing the new prime minister, who is expected to take office on 24 July.
The Independent understands that Mr Robbins is keen to move on, having remained as chief negotiator for eight months longer than originally intended.

▽Japan, a Champion of Free Trade, Takes a Page From Trump’s Playbook - WSJ

Japan’s decision to use its technology exports as a weapon in diplomatic combat signals a strategy upheaval for a resource-poor country long aware of its vulnerability in an interconnected world.
A day after Tokyo said it would curb exports to South Korea of materials used by semiconductor and display makers there, concern was rising in Japan about damage to the global technology supply chain as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s carefully nurtured image as a standard-bearer of free trade.

▽Japan Resumes Commercial Whaling. But Is There an Appetite for It? - The New York Times

Japan resumed commercial whale hunting on Monday after a hiatus of more than 30 years, defying calls from conservation groups to protect animals once hunted to the brink of extinction.
Now whalers, who have long depended on government subsidies for their survival, face the much tougher challenge of defying basic economic reality: The market for their product is declining while labor costs across the nation are on the rise.
Japanese production of whale meat peaked in 1962, and the taste is generally preferred by an older generation.

▽Johnny, head of mammoth music talent agency, suffers stroke：The Asahi Shimbun

Johnny Kitagawa, president and founder of talent agency Johnny & Associates Inc., remains in the hospital after suffering a stroke in June, the agency announced July 1.
Kitagawa, 87, experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of stroke caused by a ruptured cerebral aneurysm.
He was rushed to a hospital by ambulance on the morning of June 18 after he said he felt unwell and was admitted that day.