“We have no money and we don’t want to pay.” Moments of tension at the Lidl of viale Regione Siciliana, near the bridge of viale Lazio, in Palermo. Chaos inside the supermarket, with the intervention of police and carabinieri, because of some people, coming from outside the city who would literally fill the shopping carts and then try to go out without paying for the goods.There would be around twenty families in all. Outside the usual line and inside chaos would break out , so much so that the police had to intervene. The situation is still tense but in the process of being resolved. Source Blogsicilia
Author: The Board
Vladimir Putin’s government has taken control of Rosneft’s Venezuelan assets to try and sidestep US sanctions. The move comes shortly after the US indicted Nicolas Maduro and other officials over narcotrafficking. Russian oil production giant Rosneft said Saturday it had ceased operating in Venezuela and transferred its assets to a company own entirely by the Russian government. Source Deutsche Welle
Thomas Schaefer, who had led the finance ministry of Hesse for almost ten years, was found dead next to train tracks near Frankfurt, according to a police investigation, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Police and the public prosecutor’s office confirmed the news of Schaefer’s death in a joint statement on Saturday, according to the report.
They gave no information on the motive, but said they reached the conclusion he had committed suicide from “extensive crime scene work, the questioning of numerous witnesses, the situation on-site and the technical and forensic evaluations and investigations.” Source bdnews24
President Donald Trump’s deputies announced Friday that they had begun the process of importing 85,000 H-1B gig workers to take white-collar jobs that will be needed after October by the millions of American graduates who are now losing jobs in the coronavirus crash. Source Breitbart
The global financial system with its two powerful pillars – the IMF and the World Bank – continues to play a big role. It needs to cope not only with the pecuniary processes but also with other global occurrences because these have a direct impact on markets, stock exchanges, manufacturing and services. The outbreak of the notorious epidemic that is on everyone’s lips is just such an event. It has economically impacted China, the world’s factory, and now it – or rather the precautions are taken against it – is ravaging Europe and the United States. Businesses are ordered to stop operating or to limit their activities while people need to make their living if only to pay the fixed costs such as rent, credit, leasing, employee remuneration and the like. Yes, governments offer solutions and these include tax exemptions or they provide citizens with unearned money just to allow them to survive. Does it not resemble the quantitative easing of a few years ago? Yet, the divergence between the amount of money available and the amount of goods and services is not going to ameliorate the economic problems.
A number of Dutch soldiers of the enhanced Forward Presence in Lithuania have been infected with the COVID-19 virus. The personnel present at the barracks in Rukla has been quarantined as a precaution. The NATO combat group is now widely tested for the virus. Source Ministerie Defence
Een deel van uitgezonden militairen in onder meer Irak en Afghanistan komt tijdelijk terug naar Nederland. Dat hebben de ministers Ank-Bijleveld-Schouten van Defensie en Stef Blok van Buitenlandse Zaken de Kamer gisteren per brief gemeld. Het besluit is een gevolg van COVID-19-maatregelen die wereldwijd worden genomen. Source Dutch Ministry of Defence
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two Iraqi militia groups, Kataib Hezbollah and al-Nujaba’a, have vowed to resist any attack by US forces after reports emerged in US media this week of a planned assault on Iranian proxies. Source Rudaw
Paris’s Orly airport will shut down on Tuesday in light of the collapse in air traffic amid the coronavirus crisis. France’s biggest airport for domestic flights, Orly will be closed until further notice at midnight – after hosting just ten flights and around 1000 passengers on Tuesday, as the number of people taking flights has plunged thanks to the stringent measures adopted to try and contain the transmission of the coronavirus. Source France 24
Charter flights to bring in agricultural workers from eastern Europe are needed as a matter of urgency, otherwise fruit and vegetables will be left unpicked in Britain’s fields, the government is being warned. Source The Guardian
The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating. Source San Francisco Chronicle
The Syrian Democratic Forces said they regained control of a prison housing suspected Islamic State members near the northeast Syrian town of Hasakeh on Monday, March 30, following a breakout attempt the day prior.
Mazlum Abdi, top commander of the SDF, announced Monday that control over the prison had been restored and that no detainees had escaped. Source The Defence Post
A senior Taiwanese defence official said on Monday that the island’s military is well prepared in the event of any attack from Beijing during the Covid-19 outbreak. “At the height of outbreak of the pandemic worldwide, if the Chinese Communists attempted to make any military adventure leading to regional conflict, they would be condemned by the world, and regardless of what would happen, we are all ready and have made the best preparation for this,” said Taiwan’s vice defence minister Chang Guan-chung. Source South China Morning Post
Lawmakers on Monday passed a bill aimed at extending a state of emergency and granting the government special powers to take extraordinary measures to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.
Among the measures, flouting quarantine regulations is punishable by up to three years in prison. Also, anyone who disseminates fake news or distorted real information in a way that obstructs the effectiveness of the response to the epidemic is a crime punishable by 1-5 years in prison. Source The Hungary Today
France on Sunday staged its largest evacuation of coronavirus patients to date from hospitals in the hard-hit east, increasing efforts to free up intensive care units as officials brace for even more serious cases in the coming days.
The two specially modified TGV high-speed trains carried 36 patients from Mulhouse and Nancy toward hospitals along France’s western coast, in an effort to free up intensive care units as officials brace for even more serious cases in the coming days. Source The Local
“We have no money and we don’t want to pay.” Moments of tension at the Lidl of viale Regione Siciliana, near the bridge of viale Lazio, in Palermo. Chaos inside the supermarket, with the intervention of police and carabinieri, because of some people, coming from outside the city who would literally fill the shopping carts and then try to go out without paying for the goods.There would be around twenty families in all. Outside the usual line and inside chaos would break out , so much so that the police had to intervene. The situation is still tense but in the process of being resolved. Source Blogsicilia
Thomas Schaefer, who had led the finance ministry of Hesse for almost ten years, was found dead next to train tracks near Frankfurt, according to a police investigation, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Police and the public prosecutor’s office confirmed the news of Schaefer’s death in a joint statement on Saturday, according to the report.
They gave no information on the motive, but said they reached the conclusion he had committed suicide from “extensive crime scene work, the questioning of numerous witnesses, the situation on-site and the technical and forensic evaluations and investigations.” Source bdnews24
President Donald Trump’s deputies announced Friday that they had begun the process of importing 85,000 H-1B gig workers to take white-collar jobs that will be needed after October by the millions of American graduates who are now losing jobs in the coronavirus crash. Source Breitbart
- The coronavirus economic freeze could cost 47 million jobs and send the unemployment rate past 32%, according to St. Louis Fed projections.
- There are nearly 67 million Americans working in jobs that are at a high risk of layoffs, according to the analysis.
- St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said last week that the initial estimates are grim but the plunge should be short-lived. Source CNBC
The world’s largest economy is likely to contract at an annualized rate of 34 percent in the second quarter as the unemployment rate soars to 15 percent, according to economists at the Wall Street investment bank led by Jan Hatzius. The team had previously expected the economy to shrink by 24 percent and unemployment to hit 9 percent during the quarter. Source Fox
Iraq plans to raise output by about 200,000 barrels a day, reaching 4.8 million barrels a day in average production, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The country would join Saudi Arabia, Russia and others in adding more barrels to a sated market amid a price war — even as the coronavirus saps global demand. Source Bloomberg
Italian government bond yields held steady as the country successfully sold 8.5 billion euros of debt in an auction amid hefty ECB stimulus and hopes the country’s efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus may be starting to work. Source Reuters
SOUTH Africa’s rand plumbed a record low and bond yields soared after the country lost its last investment-grade credit rating, and investors anticipated it may slide deeper into junk as the spread of the coronavirus decimates the economy. Source The Star
Russia and Saudi Arabia are locked in an oil price war as global prices plummet owing to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Riyadh will now raise their oil exports to the highest levels ever. Source Deutsche Welle
Vladimir Putin’s government has taken control of Rosneft’s Venezuelan assets to try and sidestep US sanctions. The move comes shortly after the US indicted Nicolas Maduro and other officials over narcotrafficking. Russian oil production giant Rosneft said Saturday it had ceased operating in Venezuela and transferred its assets to a company own entirely by the Russian government. Source Deutsche Welle
Toyota Motor Corp.’s idled manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will make much-needed face shields and masks, and the auto giant is also closing in on deals with makers of medical devices to help them boost production. Source JapanTimes
Volkswagen may have to cut jobs if the coronavirus pandemic is not brought under control as the carmaker is still spending about 2 billion euros (US$2.2 billion) a week, Chief Executive Herbert Diess told German TV channel ZDF. Source CNA
Cheesecake Factory Inc. is doing what a lot of tenants would like to do come April 1: withholding their rent. The restaurant chain said that the “unprecedented times” we are living in has prompted it to take a closer look at its economic situation. Source Market Watch
In his three decades growing strawberries and blueberries, Cristobal Picon has learned how to grapple with problems ranging from droughts and driving winds to floods and freezes. But this year, the coronavirus outbreak has proven too much.
Every spring, Picon’s fields in Huelva, on the Atlantic coast of Spain tucked between Seville and the border with Portugal, are normally teeming with some 200 workers mostly from Morocco and Romania pulling the delicate berries from the plants and packing them for shipment. But this year, there are fewer than 100, largely locals – and Picon has no clue how he’s going to get the harvest in. Source The StraitsTimes
