Make China Great Again. Fast Food African Nations. The Tillerson-Trump tit for tat.

IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ The Writing Was On The Wall (Or Not?) For Theresa May: Delivering a speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who lost her overall governing majority in a snap election she called in June, attempted to revive her faltering premiership. But not much (including her immune system) was helping her out. Soon after beginning her speech, comedian Simon Brodkin went up to the stage and handed her a P45, a form that UK employees are given when they leave a job, similar to a “pink slip” in the US. Brodkin was removed, and May joked that the only P45 she wanted to give out was to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (zing!). May however cannot blame Corbyn for her miscues during the speech as she struggled mightily with a sore throat and had multiple coughing fits from the “conference cold” she had caught. Delegates rose and cheered encouragement, while her finance minister Phillip Hammond came to the stage with a throat lozenge. May was left fighting to finish her speech, barely audible. To add insult to throat injury, parts of the stage furniture began to give way. Two letters fell from the slogan on the wall behind May, which read: “Building A Country That Works For Everyone,” until an F and an E decided they wanted no part of this cringeworthy political theater, leaving a very inspiring “Building A Country That Works Or Everyon” slogan as May finished her address. So what did she actually manage to say in her speech? You can read or watch that here, because we are just giggling too much to write anything serious. We gotta hand it to the British Premier and quote Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson: “If ever there was a metaphor for battling through adversity, that was it.” Indeed. May also wore a large bracelet with painted images of renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who was a communist concerned with the plight of the impoverished. And who had an affair with Leon Trotsky (A great example of physically manifesting a slogan such as “Workers of the world, unite!”). As they say, you really can’t make this stuff up! China’s Bullish On Their Own Domestic Companies And Nationalist Slogans: What’s the most iconic nationalist slogan of late? If you think it’s “Make America Great Again,” then you probably aren’t aware of China’s economic ambitions and it’s “Made in China 2025” plan. It’s not real catchy but it’s disheartening, especially for a whole lot of US companies who face increasing threats from Chinese investment rules, industrial policies, subsidies to state-owned enterprises, excess manufacturing capacity, cybersecurity regulations and forced technology transfers, and who expressed their frustration Wednesday in a public hearing held by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR). The USTR reports annually on China’s World Trade Organization’s (WTO) compliance. It has also been investigating China’s intellectual property practices, which could lead President Trump to impose trade sanctions. NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ Yemen Battles 800,000 Cases Of Cholera: New video footage, taken in August from inside several hospitals in Yemen, reveals the crisis in the country as it battles to contain one of the world’s worst ever outbreaks of cholera. A destroyed health care system, devastated infrastructure, and near famine–the results of a civil war that began in March 2015–have all contributed to what the World Health Organization has described as “the worst cholera outbreak in the world.” The UN counted 777,229 suspected cases as of October 2, many of them in children. Last week, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ delegation to Yemen warned that the number of cholera cases in the country could reach 1 million by the end of 2017. On Wednesday, the Global Task Force on Cholera Control warned of the possibility that the epidemic could spread to neighboring countries. Fast Food Is Fueling Obesity In Africa: Rapid urbanization, population growth, and a growing middle class are leading to more Africans indulging in fast foods. As is the case in advanced industrialized nations, this has led to increasing obesity levels across Africa. Over the last few years, large fast food chains such as Burger King, McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway have all descended on the continent, taking advantage of the expanding middle class, who have disposable income and a taste for processed food. An obesity epidemic is now evident in countries like Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, and Nigeria. As diets laden with sugar, meat, and carbs grow, the prevalence and impact of diabetes are growing, as are cases of hypertension, heart attacks, kidney failure, and strokes. Healthcare systems in Africa have long been more focused on infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS and are therefore not well equipped to treat chronic disorders and other non-communicable diseases. Welcome to the first world problems club! KEEPING OUR EYE ON Tillerson and Trump’s Cold War of Words: The following is a brief history (the curious case) of Rex Wayne Tillerson. Tillerson is an educated, intelligent, 65 year old private-sector Civil Engineer and former CEO of the world’s biggest oil and gas company ExxonMobil. He was No. 20 on Forbes’ 2015 Most Powerful People list. He was a Distinguished Eagle Scout and past national president of the Boy Scouts of America. Currently he is Donald Trump’s Secretary of State. But perhaps not for much longer. We’re betting he’s just about reached the end of his emasculating, pride-swallowing rope. Tillerson is likely no Jeff Sessions. But like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary Tillerson has also been publicly contradicted, embarrassed, and ‘thrown under the bus’ a number of times in the short eight months he’s been in Trump’s cabinet. Highlights include Trump’s politicized speech delivered last July at the Boy Scouts Jamboree, clashes over a series of key foreign policy issues, including marginalizing Qatar, pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, threatening to leave the Iran Nuclear deal, and most recently, Trump’s snubbing of Tillerson’s public statements about attempts to open negotiation channels with North Korea. Normally camera-shy, Tillerson held an unusual press conference Wednesday to deny he’s considering resigning from his cabinet post. But when reporters asked about the claim that he had called President Trump a ‘moron’ after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, Tillerson said he wouldn’t discuss it because where he comes from, people don’t “deal with petty stuff like that.” Nevertheless, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Tillerson did not use the word “moron” to describe the president. “The secretary did not use that type of language to speak about the president of the Unites States,” she said. “He did not say that.” Critic of Rwandan president charged with inciting insurrection (The Guardian) Aung San Suu Kyi to be stripped of Oxford honor (CNN) India’s economy in ‘downward spiral.’ What did Modi get wrong? (CNN) Catalonia moves to declare independence from Spain on Monday (Reuters) Ireland Has ‘Fall Back’ Brexit Plan if Talks Fail, Premier Says (Bloomberg) President Trump Says Puerto Rico’s Debt Should Be ‘Wiped Out’ (TIME) LOOSE NUTS What’s This Ghastly Fake News About The Death Of Santa Claus?: Don’t you believe it, Kids! Santa Claus is alive and well and living at the North Pole just like we always knew, once 17th century Dutch immigrants to the US colonies planted the Sinterklaas idea in our American heads, with maybe a little help from the 1773 American press and Washington Irving. Anyway, now Turkish archaeologists say they have uncovered the actual, most probably likely, burial place of Saint Nicholas, uh, Sinterklaas, rather, Santa Claus. Nick, as most everyone knows, was a real person, believed to have been born around 280 A.D. near the city of Myra, in the province of Antalya, Turkey. Rumor has it the guy was a real saint, revered for his gift-giving, aid to the poor, and most importantly, giving rise to the legend of Santa Claus. He has a real church named after him and everything, which was built on the ruins of Myra in what is now called Antalya’s Demre district. It was thought for a few centuries that some terrible grave robbers, uh, “sailors” stole Nick’s remains and smuggled them to the city of Bari, Italy, when parts of the Byzantine empire in modern-day Turkey fell to Muslim invaders around the First Crusade, 700 years after Nick’s death. The St. Nicholas Basilica still stands in Bari today, but back then, Venice also competed to host his “body” and still keeps relics belonging to the saint. Fast forward, and the director of surveying and monuments in Antalya claims fresh surveys using ground-penetrating radars show an almost intact temple and burial grounds below St. Nicholas church. Right now the temple is inaccessible due to the presence of stone reliefs and mosaics that need to be preserved, but careful excavation work will start soon and then “We will reach the ground and maybe we will find the untouched body of Saint Nicholas.” So they say. But we all know where Santa’s really at because we’ve been sending him mail to the North Pole since we were kids. Please support Daily Pnut!