Germany today sold medium-term government bonds, or Bunds, at the lowest yield on record as the stalling European economy drove investors towards the safe assets. Europe’s biggest economy sold 10-year Bunds – IOUs which will pay out in 10 years time – with a yield of minus 0.24 per cent. It means investors holding them until they mature would lose money. Source: City
Author: The Board
Philippe told lawmakers that the government would cut income tax for middle-class workers and would completely scrap a housing tax. Philippe said unemployment benefits for the highest earners would gradually decrease to encourage the jobless to get back to work more quickly. On the highly sensitive subject of pension reform, Philippe said the government would create incentives for the French to stay on the job longer than the current minimum legal retirement age of 62. Source: France 24
Italy has passed a law to fine any boat rescuing refugees from sea up to €50,000 (£44,000), despite hundreds having died on route this year. Those who repeatedly violate the law risk having their boats seized. The regulation also allows undercover police investigations of possible trafficking operations and approves electronic eavesdropping on suspected people smugglers. Source: Independent
Tuesday, June 11, morning gunshots took place in the city Guynemer in Toulon, in the Var. A man in his fifties is seriously injured. Settlement between gangs or drug trafficking? The city Guynemer in Toulon, in the Var, is in shock. On the morning of Tuesday, June 11, gunfire took place in the street, seriously injuring a man in his fifties. Source Orange
A detonation occurred in the Rosengård district in Malmö during the night towards Tuesday. The entrance to a apartment building has been destroyed by a heavy explosion. An hour later an alarm came about another explosion in central Malmö. Source: SVT News
Swedish police say officers had no choice but to shoot and injure a man who was acting threateningly at Malmo central station. The man has been taken to the hospital and the train station has been evacuated. Source: Deutsche Welle
Iran has followed through on a threat to accelerate its production of enriched uranium, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Monday, departing from his usual guarded language to say he was worried about increasing tension. source: Japan Times
The first group of residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR) have received Russian passports issued under a fast-track procedure in accordance with the Russian president’s decree. A passport ceremony took place in Russia’s Rostov region, where over 60 Donbass residents had arrived on Friday morning. Source: Tass
Commercials portraying “harmful gender stereotypes” will be banned from Friday in the UK. The nation’s advertising watchdog introduced the ban because it found evidence suggesting that adverse stereotypes could “restrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities of children, young people and adults and these stereotypes can be reinforced by some advertising, which plays a part in unequal gender outcomes.” Source: Deutsche Welle
will ask if he has more effective ideas for paying debts to families and businesses”. The Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, said this. “That is a measure unanimously approved by Parliament. As a minister, I do not say if I like it or dislike it, but if Parliament asks me to do it,” he added. Source: TG Com 24
Huawei Technologies Co seems to be moving very fast to prepare for the launch of its self-developed operating system, as the Chinese tech giant has reportedly shipped 1 million smartphones with the software onboard for testing. The move is part of Huawei’s broader effort to offset the fallout of the US administration’s ban on the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor and the world’s largest telecom equipment maker. Source: China Daily
An unexploded device, believed to be a limpet mine, was spotted on the side of one of two oil tankers attacked on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If confirmed, then the method of attack would be the same as the one that the United States believes was used last month when four other tankers were struck off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Source: Reuters
Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity plans to roll out Chinese classes in schools, by signing an agreement with the Confucius Institute in Beijing on importing professional Chinese language teachers. Source: Balkan Insight
Serbia is to host a 13-day joint military exercise involving elite troops from Serbia, Russia and Belarus in June, the Russian Defence Ministry has said. Paratroopers from Serbia will join elite counterparts from Russia and Belarus for this year’s Slavic Military Brotherhood exercise over 13 days between June 14 and 27 in Pancevo, in northern Serbia. Source Balkan Insight
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who now chairs Bosnia’s tripartite state presidency, has refused to meet Christiane Hohmann, the outgoing German ambassador to Bosnia, claiming that she has worked against the interests of the Bosnian Serb community, SRNA news agency reported on Wednesday. Source: Balkan Insight
Turkey has already bought the Russian S-400 missile defense systems, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 12, stressing that it is a done deal. “I’m not saying Turkey will buy S-400 defense systems, it has already bought them; we’ve closed the deal,” Erdoğan told his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group meeting in the capital Ankara. Source Hurriyet Daily
Attack on Turkish army observation point in Syria’s Idlib act of aggression, foreign minister says. Turkey disapproves of France’s close cooperation with the terror group PKK/YPG, the nation’s foreign minister said Thursday. Mevlut Cavusoglu made the remarks at a joint news conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian after a bilateral meeting in the capital Ankara. Source: Anadolu Agency
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been ordered to stand trial for tweeting pictures of Islamic State atrocities, a judicial source told AFP on Wednesday. Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after IS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris. Source: France24
Deutsche Bank is planning to overhaul its trading operations by creating a so-called bad bank to hold tens of billions of euros of non-core assets, a source close to the matter said on Monday. Source: Reuters
The Japanese owner of a tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman claimed Friday that it was struck by a flying projectile, contradicting reports by U.S. officials and the military on the source of the blast. Source: NBC
Reports from Russian media indicate that before the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum representatives from Huawei have met with the Minister of digital development and communications of Russia to discuss the possibility of using Aurora OS on future Huawei smartphones.
Aurora OS is a version of Sailfish OS in majority ownership by Russian state telecom Rostelecom and designated for the Russian market. Aurora OS is the only officially approved OS in Russia for use by government agencies and Russia plans to replace all other devices used by the state with 8 million Aurora-running smartphones in the future. Source: Nokiamob
Two Turkish fighter jets entered Greek air space above the islet of Kinaros on Tuesday morning, according to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency. Source: Ekathimerini
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was considering sanctions over Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project and warned Germany against being dependent on Russia for the fuel. Source: Reuters
Washington is disappointed the Netherlands allowed Dutch companies to participate in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which Washington deems a threat to European security, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters
Germany today sold medium-term government bonds, or Bunds, at the lowest yield on record as the stalling European economy drove investors towards the safe assets. Europe’s biggest economy sold 10-year Bunds – IOUs which will pay out in 10 years time – with a yield of minus 0.24 per cent. It means investors holding them until they mature would lose money. Source: City
Philippe told lawmakers that the government would cut income tax for middle-class workers and would completely scrap a housing tax. Philippe said unemployment benefits for the highest earners would gradually decrease to encourage the jobless to get back to work more quickly. On the highly sensitive subject of pension reform, Philippe said the government would create incentives for the French to stay on the job longer than the current minimum legal retirement age of 62. Source: France 24
Italy’s coalition parties have pushed back against criticism of proposals to issue special government bonds to help pay state debts, highlighting growing tensions within the heart of the cabinet. Source: Reuters
A “dramatic” fall in car production and an easing of stockpiling by manufacturers meant the economy shrank in April, official figures show. The economy contracted 0.4% from the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Source: BBC
- The surprise US$6.1 billion increase in foreign exchange reserves to US$3.101 trillion came as Beijing also boosted its gold reserves by 1.88 per cent to US$79.8 billion
- Speculation that China could use massive reserves, mostly US dollar-denominated assets, to counter trade war moves by US President Donald Trump
