[NEWS] Some Saturday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bloomberg notes the escalating costs of construction in San Francisco, reports that a half-Taiwanese woman is competing for the leadership of Japan's main opposition, notes the impending abdication of the Japanese emperor, and looks at the role of batteries in Australia's electricity grid.


• Bloomberg View looks at how Brexit hurt Britain's soft power and describes why Republican Party defections matter.


• The CBC examines the rise of Brazilian Protestantism.


• The Globe and Mail looks at Canada's options now that prospects of new free trade agreements in the Pacific and with the European Union has been wrecked.


• National Geographic reports on the mapping of Greenland's hidden world beneath its ice caps.


• The National Post looks at evidence for an ancient flood in China that led to the first Chinese state, and describes how Amish children have low rates of asthma.


• Open Democracy notes the new Turkish-Kurdish conflict.


• The Toronto Star remembers Mel Hurtig and describes the drought in parts of eastern Ontario.


• Wired notes a journalist who has been tracking ISIS on social media.