Ankara has moved towards implementing practical steps that would bring the economies of Turkey and the European Union closer together. Source: Hurriyet Daily News
Author: The Board
World demand for “mega-ships” has increased in recent years. Mega-ships decrease transportation costs by half. Turkey will invest in ports that can accommodate bigger vessels. Source: Hurriyet Daily News
The operation provides training of basic combat skills, first aid and defusing explosive devices. Source: Sputnik
The new leader of the government in Catalonia has pledged to secede within 18 months. Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has pledged to fight for national unity. Source: BBC
Chinese investors have bought Germany’s KraussMaffei for €925m. The deal is the biggest acquisition by Chinese investors in a German company. Source: BBC
Members of the extremist group, “Soldiers of Odin”, voluntarily patrol the streets in five Finnish towns where new asylum centers opened. Source: AA
A group known as ‘Dusseldorf is Watching’ has gained more than 8,000 Facebook members. The group wants to make the streets safer through ‘presence’ alone Source: Daily Mail
Cities, towns and villages across France were practically empty on Saturday as residents stayed home and businesses shut to observe a nationwide curfew intended to help stem the spread of coronavirus, especially a more infectious variant. Source France24
U.S. officials who have engaged in “nasty behaviour” over Chinese-claimed Taiwan will face sanctions, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday, after Washington lifted curbs on exchanges between U.S. and Taiwanese officials. Source Reuters
Unrest was recorded in the night between Sunday and Monday as young demonstrators clashed with police in several areas of Tunisia. Clashes were recorded for the third consecutive night in Cité Ettadhamen, Mnihla and al Intilaka, low-income districts of the capital, as well as Sbeitla, Nabeul, Beja, Kasserine, Jelma, Menzel Bouzalfa, Sousse, Gafsa, Bizerte, Sidi Bouzid, Korba, Tebourba. Violence, looting and attacks against police forces were reported. At least 600 people were arrested. Source Ansa Med
Russia reproached Greece and the European Union over the inspection of a Russian cargo vessel by Greek special forces off the coast of Libya earlier in January. The inspection by soldiers from the Hellenic Navy vessel “Adrias,” which is the flagship of Operation Irini, took place on January 11. Source Greek Reporter
BLM activist egged on Capitol rioters: Left-winger who told CNN he was there simply to document the siege is arrested after video shows he smashed window, wore gas mask, told rioters he had knife and shouted ‘we got to get this s**t burned’ Source Daily Mail
The National Rifle Association on Friday filed for bankruptcy, a sudden development that could help the gun rights group escape a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general seeking its dissolution. Source Reuters
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of a global shortage of semiconductors that in some cases has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s actions against key Chinese chip factories, industry officials said. Source Reuters
Covid-19 vaccination associated with adverse drug reactions in elderly people who are frail 23 deaths associated with covid-19 vaccination of which 13 have been assessed. Common adverse reactions may have contributed to a severe course in elderly people who are frail. Source legemiddelverket
Several hundred people have begun a journey of housands of kilometers through Central America to the US. The migrants are hoping for a more humane approach to migration under President-elect Joe Biden. Source Deutsche Welle
Craft had planned to visit Taipei this week, in the teeth of strong objections from China which views the island as its own territory. But the trip was cancelled by the State Department as part of a bar on all travel ahead of the transition to the incoming Biden administration. Source Reuters
- Italy’s former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said two ministers from his Italia Viva party would resign, effectively triggering the government’s collapse.
- Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he hoped Renzi would not pull his ministers from the Cabinet, warning the country would not be able to understand why the government had collapsed amid the ongoing health crisis.
- The southern European nation is no stranger to political conflicts, tensions and scandals. Source CNBC
Fraport Greece reported a 71.4% annual decline in passenger traffic last year at the 14 regional airports it operates in Greece. The total number of passengers who used the airports of Thessaloniki, Corfu, Hania, Cephalonia, Zakynthos, Aktio, Kavala, Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Mytilene, Mykonos, Santorini and Skiathos reached 8,611,780, of which 5,994,180 were on international flights – a year-on-year decline of 74.2%. Source Ekathimerini
Russian oil drilling giant Gazprom Neft opened a crypto mining farm running on associated gas energy unlocking the power of Russia’s oil and gas resources for the needs of bitcoin (BTC) mining, reports Yahoo Finance. The venue for cryptocurrency mining is on one of the company’s oil drilling sites in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Siberia. It is using the associated gas from Gazprom Neft’s oil field as an energy source and has its own power plant to transform this gas into electricity. Source Realnoevremya
The United States’ trade deficit surged to its highest level in more than 14 years in November as businesses boosted imports to replenish inventories, offsetting a rise in exports. Source Reuters
U.S. bankruptcy filings hit their lowest level since 1986 last year thanks to unprecedented fiscal and monetary support from the Fed and Congress.
By the numbers: Total bankruptcy filings for the year fell to 529,068 filings across all chapters, while total filings in the month of December was 34,304, the lowest monthly total since January 2006, according to a release from legal services company Epiq AACER. The number of total 2020 filings was about 1/3 of the number seen in 2010. Source Axios
Italy is working on a plan to take on about 14 billion euros ($17 billion) of UniCredit’s impaired loans to make a takeover of state-owned Monte dei Paschi more attractive for the country’s second-biggest bank, sources told Reuters.
Volkswagen Group has liquidated its unit in Turkey after cancelling plans to establish its first factory in the country, Turkish television channel BloombergHT reported on Tuesday.
The decision to shutter the firm was registered with the Turkish Trade Registry and a call to creditors was issued on Monday, BloombergHT said. Source Ahval
The former head of one of China’s biggest asset management companies has been sentenced to death for corruption, in a relatively rare instance of the country meting out the death penalty for financial crimes. Source FT
Russian natural gas transported to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline touched 28.8 million cubic metres per day, as of Jan. 3, to feed homes and factories as northern China faces frigid weather conditions, national oil and gas pipeline giant PipeChina said. Source Business Recorder
Dec. 22, France’s national statistic agency INSEE reported that, the country’s public debt hit 2,674.3 billion euros (around USD3,255.93 billion) before the end of the July-September period of the present year, making up for 116.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Source MenaFN
14 December France has ordered a dozen public and private bodies to keep their deposits at the Treasury, government documents show, as it quietly builds up safeguards to reinforce its cash flow during the pandemic and ahead of Brexit. Source Reuters
“We have completed this work,” the consortium said in an emailed statement, referring to the pipe-laying in the German economic zone.
The consortium building the pipeline, led by Russian gas giant Gazprom with Western partners, has still to lay more than 100-km of pipeline, although more than 90% of the project has been completed. Source Reuters
