|  Good morning! Here's the news:
1. Reuters reports: "The euro fell across the board on Thursday after a weaker-than-expected reading of German manufacturing highlighted increasing sluggishness in the euro zone's largest economy." Eurozone manufacturing activity is down virtually everywhere. 2. Europe's financial woes continue and multiply. The Financial Times reports: "International Monetary Fund staff have provoked a fierce dispute with eurozone authorities by circulating estimates showing serious damage to European banks’ balance sheets from their holdings of troubled eurozone sovereign debt." 3. The Wall Street Journal reports that Alan Brazil—a Goldman Sachs trading "strategist"—believes that as much as $1 trillion in capital may be needed to shore up European banks. If he's right, the eurozone is headed for something like a Lehman event. 4. The US Department of Justice filed suit to block AT&T's proposed acquisition of T*Mobile, saying it would result in less competition and higher prices. AT&T filed suit to have DOJ's lawsuit tossed. 5. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a big supporter of AT&T's proposed acquisition of T*Mobile. He wrote a letter to the FCC urging it to approve the deal. AT&T is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. 6. President Obama's request to address a joint session of Congress on 7 September (to discuss job creation and deficit reduction schemes) was rejected by House Speaker John Boehner. Mr. Obama will instead address a joint session on 8 September. It was yet more evidence, if any was needed, of Washington's dysfunctional governance. 7. “We are entering a new phase of the American political dialogue that has been irrevocably shifted in a way that will prove difficult to predict,” says GOP pollster Bill McInturff. “Historically, though, this type of deep voter anger, unease and economic pessimism leads to unstable and unpredictable political outcomes.” Dan Balz's report on McInturff's polling is worth reading in full. 8. Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman rolled out a comprehensive tax-cutting jobs plan on Wednesday that he called “not radical or revolutionary.” Huntsman's plan strips the tax code of all loopholes and deductions, while dramatically lowering rates. 9. Mitt Romney, who hasn't campaigned hard for Tea Party support, is now campaigning harder for Tea Party support. 10. Rep. Michele Bachmann appears to have decided not to compete in next year's New Hampshire presidential primary. She's stopped visiting the Granite State and is focusing her post-Iowa efforts on South Carolina and Florida. 11. For the first time since the US invasion of Iraq, no US servicemen or servicewomen were killed in Iraq over the course of one month. Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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