Representatives of Greece’s international creditors ended their exploratory talks in Athens on Friday with serious reservations about a series of policies being promoted by the government, while they concluded that only half the prior actions tied to the next tranche of 2.8 billion euros have been implemented. Source Ekathimerini
A Frenchman who had been on France’s terror watchlist after showing signs of having been radicalized to extremist Islam has been accepted into France’s police force. The man was placed on the terror watch list in 2012 as a known radical Islamist and France’s intelligence service DGSI kept him under surveillance for a number of years after being alerted to his behaviour. Source The Local
China is planning to bring back gold standards for international payment after several decades. Being the world’s largest importer of yellow metal, China is now preparing to launch an oil futures contract denominated in yuan and redeemable in gold. While the yuan is not yet a global trade settlement currency, China will make the plan possible by backing the yuan with gold for settling crude oil imports. China is also the largest importer of crude oil. Source Business Standard
One of the main issues that has recently damaged relations between the two countries has been repeated statements by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, claiming that Bosnia is home to up to 10,000 Islamic extremists. Source Balkan Insight
