Update: 3 Azhar students to be detained for their role in campus clashes on Sunday →

 

At Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Students Against the Coup organized a march to demand the release of their arrested colleagues and the return to school of those who were expelled last year. The students also protested against the strict policies of the new security company and destroyed its office on campus. Later, police entered the campus, arrested five students and closed several streets in the vicinity.

At Ain Shams University, students protested the long queues at the gates and the new procedures implemented by Falcon, in collaboration with the university’s guards, who closed the doors to Zafarana castle in the middle of campus, as well as the faculties of science and computer science.  

At Cairo University, students organized a march that toured campus and chanted against Falcon and military rule, which they said has led to a state of chaos. Falcon security personnel fled the scene and five CSF and Special Forces tankers entered the campus to disperse the protest, arresting several students.

 

In Washington Policy Circles the Trade Deficit Is Like Sex Used to Be, No One Is Supposed to Talk About It →

 

For those who never had any economics or are in high level policy positions, an over-valued dollar has an enormous effect on the balance of trade. If the dollar is over-valued by 20 percent it has roughly the same impact as imposing a 20 percent tariff on all U.S. exports and providing a 20 percent subsidy on imports. There is nothing in policymakers' bag of tricks that can come close to having the same impact on trade as a reduction in the value of the dollar. Anyone who argues otherwise (think of people pushing the TPP or TTIP) are either showing their ignorance or not telling the truth.

 

What Will U.S. Troops in Baghdad Do When Islamic State Militants Arrive? →

President Obama has pledged that he will not put American boots on the ground in order to degrade and destroy the Islamic State.  But he has already sent 1000-1500 troops to Baghdad to provide (in the words of a June 30 letter to Congress) “support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.”

FBI Director James Comey to Speak at Brookings Next Week on Encryption →

On Thursday, October 16, Governance Studies at Brookings will host FBI Director James Comey for a discussion of the impact of technology on the work of law enforcement. Law enforcement officials worry that the explosion in the volume and the means by which we all communicate threatens its access to the evidence it needs to investigate and prosecute crime and to prevent acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, In the Lives of Hundreds of Millions of Asians… →

As Green also summarizes, higher rural wages in many Asian countries are driving up wages from manufacturing and increasing the costs of food production. Those trends should help tilt comparative advantage in food production and low-wage manufacturing toward Africa and lower-income parts of Asia. As that happens, the prospects for similar transformations occurring in those areas should improve, too.

Protests Erupt in St. Louis After Off-Duty Officer Fatally Shoots Teen →

The spotlight is back on Missouri:

An off-duty police officer working for a private security firm in St. Louis fatally shot an 18-year-old black man who police claim opened fire during a foot chase.
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Conflicting reports have emerged since the shooting, but police claim that the teen was armed and fired at least three shots at the officer before his gun jammed. Witnesses and people who identified themselves as the teen's family claim that the the young man was holding a sandwich when he was shot some 16 times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Related, the protests in Ferguson never stopped:

The protest was the first of dozens of events planned in greater St. Louis as part of an organized demonstration dubbed “Ferguson October.” Thousands are expected to travel to the protests, which will culminate with a massive civil disobedience action on Monday.