Too many asylum seekers are staying in emergency accommodation next to the Ter Apel registration centre and urgent action is needed, local councillors have told broadcaster RTV Noord. The emergency housing – large white tents – has space for 125 people but more people than that stay there on a regular basis, local officials say. Source Dutch News
China’s President Xi Jinping has said that “reunification” with Taiwan “must be fulfilled”, as heightened tensions over the island continue. Mr Xi said unification should be achieved peacefully, but warned that the Chinese people had a “glorious tradition” of opposing separatism. Source BBC
Calls multiplied on Monday in Italy for the ultra-right group Forza Nuova to be banned, after it was implicated in violent demonstrations against the COVID-19 health pass in Rome at the weekend.
Several hundred people clashed with police in central Rome on Saturday evening, damaging the headquarters of the country’s main trade union confederation, the CGIL, and other property. Source Euro News
India is facing an impending energy crisis as several states saw coal-fired power plants shut down due to a coal shortage. Major cities such as the capital New Delhi experienced electricity cuts that ran for hours over the weekend. Source DW
China’s military said on Monday it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei.
Democratically ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has complained of stepped-up military and political pressure https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-defence-minister-says-china-will-have-ability-mount-full-scale-invasion-2021-10-06 from Beijing to force it to accept Chinese rule, including massed air force incursions into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone. Source Euro News
India is grappling with an escalating crisis as stockpiles of coal, the fuel used to generate about 70% of the nation’s electricity, dwindle to the lowest in years just as power demand is set to surge. Source EconomicTimes
The EU commissioner for home affairs will meet Greek and Croatian ministers on Thursday to discuss the latest media reports on migrant pushback.
“Some of these reports are shocking and I’m extremely concerned,” Ylva Johansson told reporters about a joint investigation by media outlets Der Spiegel, ARD, and Liberation. Source Memo
Police on Monday started the operation to clear protestors against the obligation to have the Green Pass COVID-19 health certificate to access all Italian places of work from a section of the port of Trieste. Source ANSA
After a successful launch to the new Chinese Space Station earlier this year and the initial 90-day “shakedown cruise” of the Shenzhou 12 crew, three taikonauts launched to the station aboard the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft to begin the first long-duration stay aboard.
Shenzhou 13 launched atop a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) rocket at 16:23 UTC (00:23 local time on Saturday), from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, in north-central China. Source Nasa
Port workers in Trieste – the seventh-largest port in Europe for handling goods and the leading oil terminal in the Mediterranean – have announced a total block of operations starting Friday in protest against the national health pass mandate for all workers. The move could also impact several other logistical hubs throughout the country. Source Euractiv
Too many asylum seekers are staying in emergency accommodation next to the Ter Apel registration centre and urgent action is needed, local councillors have told broadcaster RTV Noord. The emergency housing – large white tents – has space for 125 people but more people than that stay there on a regular basis, local officials say. Source Dutch News
China’s President Xi Jinping has said that “reunification” with Taiwan “must be fulfilled”, as heightened tensions over the island continue. Mr Xi said unification should be achieved peacefully, but warned that the Chinese people had a “glorious tradition” of opposing separatism. Source BBC
Calls multiplied on Monday in Italy for the ultra-right group Forza Nuova to be banned, after it was implicated in violent demonstrations against the COVID-19 health pass in Rome at the weekend.
Several hundred people clashed with police in central Rome on Saturday evening, damaging the headquarters of the country’s main trade union confederation, the CGIL, and other property. Source Euro News
China’s military said on Monday it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei.
Democratically ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has complained of stepped-up military and political pressure https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-defence-minister-says-china-will-have-ability-mount-full-scale-invasion-2021-10-06 from Beijing to force it to accept Chinese rule, including massed air force incursions into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone. Source Euro News
Tensions with China are at their worst in 40 years, Taiwan’s defence minister has said, warning of the risk of an accidental strike between the two. Chiu Kuo-cheng’s comments came after China sent a “record number” of military jets into Taiwan’s air defence zone for four consecutive days. Source CNN
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister warns his nation is preparing for war with China and urges Australia to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation as Beijing intensifies a campaign of military intimidation. Source ABC
The Swedish health agency said it would pause using the shot for people born in 1991 and later as data pointed to an increase of myocarditis and pericarditis among youths and young adults that had been vaccinated. Those conditions involve an inflammation of the heart or its lining. Source Reuters
French ministers floated the possibility of petrol vouchers for low-income households on Monday, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government seeks to limit the damage from surging energy prices to his economic record six months from a presidential election. Source France24
Skoda started a two-week cut in output on Monday as the Czech brand contends with the global shortage of chips and other components, the company said. The Volkswagen Group unit wants to complete 10,000 unfinished cars during the outage, which will leave only one production line running, a spokesman said. Source Automotive News
“What is happening today in the energy markets of Europe is, to a certain extent, a man-made result of short-sighted policy,” the Russian President added Source TASS
India is facing an impending energy crisis as several states saw coal-fired power plants shut down due to a coal shortage. Major cities such as the capital New Delhi experienced electricity cuts that ran for hours over the weekend. Source DW
India is grappling with an escalating crisis as stockpiles of coal, the fuel used to generate about 70% of the nation’s electricity, dwindle to the lowest in years just as power demand is set to surge. Source EconomicTimes
Soaring gas prices are forecast to drive a switch to oil and put more energy suppliers in Britain out of business, while industry groups called on Thursday for government action to ensure there is no supply interruption this winter. Source GCaptain
EU environment ministers are set to discuss speculation in the bloc’s carbon market as part of a debate on high energy prices on Wednesday, with Poland and Spain pushing for curbs.
“We urgently need to reduce the influence of financial market participants on ETS allowance prices,” said the Polish government in a note to the ministers ahead of the meeting. Source Montel
OPEC+ said on Monday it would stick to an existing pact for a gradual increase in oil output, sending crude prices to three-year highs and adding to inflationary pressures that consuming nations fear will derail an economic recovery from the pandemic. Source Reuters
German utility Steag halted its coal-fired power plant Bergkamen-A after it ran out of hard coal supplies amid an energy crunch globally and logistics challenges domestically, the company told Bloomberg on Friday.
“We are short of hard coal,” Steag spokesman Daniel Muhlenfeld told Bloomberg via email. Source Oil Price
Nord Stream 2 AG has started filling with gas the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the pipeline operator said on Monday. “This string will be gradually filled to build the required inventory and pressure as a prerequisite for the later technical tests,” the company said. Source Tass
Gefira tracks the global players in Europe, the USA, Russia and China and anticipates the consequences of their policies
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Europe's geopolitical situation resembles that of 1913.
The enlargement of the European Union to the east, Germany's Ostpolitik, economic power and its reluctance to align its policy with France's and Italy's make the break-up of the Union unavoidable. While Germany is gaining a status of a financial superstar, German society is starting to disintegrate.
Nobody dares to ask, but the ECB board is bracing itself for the upcoming break-up of the euro. The Gefira team explains why France or Italy will leave the euro and we investigate how the ECB is preparing for the looming euro collapse.
