French President Emmanuel Macron signs the controversial labor reform legislation, which sparked mass protests in the country. The reforms would make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, as well as give them more authority over pay and working conditions. Source: Sputnik
Economics
Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May’s plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned. Source: The Guardian
Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Thursday that open the door wider to blacklisting people and entities doing business with N. Korea, including its shipping and trade networks, further tightening the screws on its nuclear and missile program. Source: France 24
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund hit $1 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, driven higher by climbing stock markets and a weaker U.S. dollar. Source: Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve has said that it will start to run down some of the investments it made to boost the US economy after the financial crisis. In October the Fed will start to reduce a $4.2trn portfolio of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, it said. Source: BBC News
S&P Global Ratings downgraded China’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch on Thursday to A+ from AA-, citing increasing risks from the country’s rapid build-up of credit. Source: Reuters
Venezuela, one of the world’s riskiest countries for investors, is late on a debt payment. The intermediaries tasked with passing along interest payments for the cash-strapped nation haven’t received the funds for an $185 million coupon that was due Sept. 15, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Investors interviewed by Bloomberg say they haven’t been paid, and brokers say their clients are still waiting on the cash. Source Bloomberg
Once a sign of the might of the French Socialists, the party’s grand headquarters in central Paris have been put up for sale following the electoral drubbing suffered by the leftwingers this year. The Local
Passengers were “lucky” to escape without injuries after a bus with several people on board was shot at in Malmö.
The back window of the bus was broken while driving through the Arlöv area on Thursday evening, and police are working on the theory that the shots were fired by a real weapon, not an airgun. A library and a residential home were also hit. The Local
Maine’s largest city will no longer celebrate Columbus Day as a municipal holiday. The Portland City Council voted unanimously Monday to designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The vote came after nearly an hour of public comment. Source pressherald
The UN Security Council on Sept. 21 warned that a referendum on independence by Iraq’s Kurdistan region was potentially destabilizing, adding its weight to international opposition to the vote. Source: Daily News
On Tuesday evening, 80 individuals from the Turkish community surrounded the Val-de-Reuil police station to demand the release of an individual in police custody. Thirty police officers had to travel to manage the situation. Source ACTU 17
Spain has discreetly hired ferries to be moored in the Port of Barcelona as temporary housing for possibly thousands of police specially deployed to keep order in rebel Catalonia and help suppress an illegal independence referendum. Source bloomberg
Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there’s little to suggest a reversal in the trend. Source: Bloomberg
Turkey, Iran and Iraq have agreed to consider taking “coordinated counter-measures” against the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government’s (KRG) bid to hold independence referendum at a trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in New York, days before the Sept. 25 vote in northern Iraq. Source: Daily News
A text claiming the burning of the technical premises of the gendarmerie of Grenoble was published at 1 pm this Thursday on an internet platform close to anti-capitalist circles. The authors of this claim make explicit reference to the trial that is currently taking place in Paris. Nine people are in fact tried by the criminal court in the case of the attack of a patrol of police officers and the burning of their car, in May 2016, in the margin of an unauthorized demonstration. Source Ledauphine
Many parades against the reform of the Labor Code proposed by Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe are organized everywhere in France on Thursday, between 2000 and 3000 CRS have filed a sick leave, BFMTV learned from union source. The Alliance union talks about appointments with the doctor and not about work stoppages. Source BFMTV
French authorities evacuated hundreds of migrants from a wood on the northern coast near Calais on Tuesday over fears it could become a magnet for others hoping to head to Britain. Source TheLocal
Investors in Venezuelan securities are breathing a sigh of relief after the government once again made good on its promise to pay foreign bondholders. The nation, one of the world’s riskiest debtors, said yesterday it was having difficulty wiring a $185 million interest payment that was due Sept. 15. Officials confirmed Thursday that the money was on its way to bondholders. Source Bloomberg
French President Emmanuel Macron signs the controversial labor reform legislation, which sparked mass protests in the country. The reforms would make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, as well as give them more authority over pay and working conditions. Source: Sputnik
Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May’s plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned. Source: The Guardian
Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Thursday that open the door wider to blacklisting people and entities doing business with N. Korea, including its shipping and trade networks, further tightening the screws on its nuclear and missile program. Source: France 24
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund hit $1 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, driven higher by climbing stock markets and a weaker U.S. dollar. Source: Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve has said that it will start to run down some of the investments it made to boost the US economy after the financial crisis. In October the Fed will start to reduce a $4.2trn portfolio of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, it said. Source: BBC News
S&P Global Ratings downgraded China’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch on Thursday to A+ from AA-, citing increasing risks from the country’s rapid build-up of credit. Source: Reuters
Venezuela, one of the world’s riskiest countries for investors, is late on a debt payment. The intermediaries tasked with passing along interest payments for the cash-strapped nation haven’t received the funds for an $185 million coupon that was due Sept. 15, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Investors interviewed by Bloomberg say they haven’t been paid, and brokers say their clients are still waiting on the cash. Source Bloomberg
Oil was on course for its largest third-quarter gain in 13 years as prices rose on Wednesday after the Iraqi oil minister said that OPEC and its partners are considering extending or deepening output cuts aimed at reducing a global supply glut. Brent crude futures were up to $55.62 a barrel. Source: Al Arabiya
China is expected to boast the world’s largest clean coal power system with high efficiency by 2020, the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported on Wednesday.
Since 2014, the coal-fired power sector has been renovating facilities to reduce emissions and save energy. Source: China Daily
Swedish auto maker Volvo is doubling its investment in its first U.S. plant to a total of $1 billion, a bet that its nascent comeback in the U.S. market has staying power. Volvo will add a second production line to a factory under construction near Charleston, a Volvo spokesman said. Source: The Wall Street Journal
