The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis. Source CBS
“If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze? If you give a climate denier four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised when more of America is underwater?”
.@JoeBiden: "If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze? If you give a climate denier four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised when more of America is underwater?" pic.twitter.com/DWtDcDsx98
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 14, 2020
The government is refusing to release official research on the characteristics of grooming gangs, claiming it is not in the “public interest”.
It comes after The Independent revealed that almost 19,000 suspected child sexual exploitation victims were identified by local authorities in just one year, sparking renewed calls for prevention efforts. Source The Independent
Taiwan is on alert mode due to increased incursions by Chinese fighters and reconnaissance planes. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wen visited the country’s air defense missile base on Friday. Source NJ MMA News
Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil rigs in the United States fell by 1 to 180.
The total number of active oil and gas rigs decreased for the week by 2, with oil rigs falling by 1 and gas rigs falling by 1.
Total oil and gas rigs in the United States are now down by 632 compared to this time last year. Source OilPrice
Foreign Ministry slams southern EU states for ignoring reality in region and supporting Greece’s maximalist, illegal claims. A new declaration by southern EU states threatening sanctions on Turkey is “one-sided” and ignores the reality in the region, Turkey said Friday. Source Anadolu Agency
Members of a Danish far-right group burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden, only days after a similar incident in the southern city of Malmo.
A video posted by the leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) group showed a man burning the Muslim holy book in the Rinkeby neighbourhood.
“Today, Stram Kurs, burned the Quran in Swedish sh*t hole ghetto Rinkenby,” Rasmus Paludan wrote on Facebook. Source Al Jazeera
The Turkish navy issued three new navigational telexes on Friday reserving areas of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. Source Ekathimerini
Taiwan has said it had to scramble fighter jets to track approaching Chinese aircraft that also crossed the sensitive mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, in an escalation of tensions as a top United States diplomat visited the self-ruled island in a move that angered Beijing. Source Al Jazeera
The Trump administration issued orders severely limiting the operations of the Chinese social media apps in the US. Downloads of the apps will be banned starting Sunday. TikTok has more than 100 million users in the US. Source Deutsche Welle
Democrats say the bill intends to strengthen the US medical supply chain, support new technologies like 5G and counter China’s ‘predatory economic behavior’
Senate Republicans released sprawling legislation to confront China in July. Source China Morning Post
The idea of population replacement suggests that ethnic Swedes will eventually become a minority in their own country due to low birth rates among the native population and mass immigration, due to either short-sighted policy decisions or deliberate measures taken by diversity-obsessed authorities. Several forecasts have projected that this will happen between 2040 and 2065, depending on the rate of immigration and demographic trends. Source Sputniknews
A NATO investigation into a naval standoff between French and Turkish ships in June has been rated too sensitive to discuss in public and does not apportion blame, as Paris and Ankara wage a war of words, diplomats have told Reuters. Source Reuters
Chinese and Russian forces will take part in joint military exercises in southern Russia later this month along with troops from Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan and others, China’s defense ministry announced Thursday.
The “Caucus 2020” drills will deploy wheeled vehicles and light weaponry to be flown to the drill location by China’s latest version transport aircraft, the ministry said in a news release. Source CBS
China warned the United States on Monday of potential “serious damage” to their relations if it does not withdraw from an upcoming economic meeting with Taiwan that is expected to be attended by a senior American official. Source Market Watch
Two police vehicles were damaged. The police have suffered many projectiles. Around 8:30 p.m. this Sunday evening, a police patrol had just intervened for a family dispute in the rue des écoles in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) when the officials were violently attacked by about twenty individuals. They were on their way to their car when they came across their attackers, some of whom were hooded. Source Actu17
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron “not to mess” with Turkey, as tensions between the NATO allies escalate.
In a speech Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron was targeting him. Source France 24
The Bank of Italy said Italy’s public debt hit a new high of 2,560.5 billion euros in July, up 29.9 billion with respect to June. Source Ansa
Austria has said it still supports the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite growing reservations about the project in parts of Europe following the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny. Source Radio Free Europe
The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis. Source CBS
Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil rigs in the United States fell by 1 to 180.
The total number of active oil and gas rigs decreased for the week by 2, with oil rigs falling by 1 and gas rigs falling by 1.
Total oil and gas rigs in the United States are now down by 632 compared to this time last year. Source OilPrice
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects a $3.3 trillion budget deficit this year. That is to say, the federal government is spending almost double what it will collect in taxes. As a result, the CBO estimates that national debt will consume 98% of GDP, or nearly the total yearly output of the United States’ economy. This would make debt the largest share of GDP since 1945, following the massive spending of World War II. Suorce Main Wire
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a decade-long ban on oil drilling off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — a decision that surprised energy industry executives by reversing the administration’s earlier pledges to open those waters to exploration. Source Politico
Russia’s supply of natural gas to China via the Power of Siberia rose to 12 million cubic meters per day in July and August, from 10 million cubic meters supplied in June, Vladislav Borodin, director general at the gas giant’s unit Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk, said in the company’s corporate magazine. Source OilPrice
Investors gave Greece a fresh vote of confidence during Wednesday’s one-year treasury bill auction, as the Public Debt Management Agency borrowed without interest for the first time ever in a 52-week issue. Source Ekathemirini
The European Commission has found Italian €199.45 million support in favour of Alitalia to be in line with EU state aid rules. The measure aims at compensating the airline for the damages suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak. Source Eu Reporter
China’s vehicles sales in July increased 16.4% year on year to 2.1m units as stimulus measures from the government continued to drive broad recoveries in consumption and market vitality, industry data showed.
This was the fourth consecutive rise in monthly vehicle sales, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Source ICIS
China’s crude oil imports in August climbed 13% from a year earlier, buoyed by hefty orders placed earlier this year when global oil prices collapsed and as cargoes previously delayed by congestion at arrival ports finally cleared customs. Source Reuters
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.
