According to Reuters, Japan-based JERA, the world’s largest buyer of LNG, is already using the crisis to push for less rigid contracts with Qatar, and allowing more imports from the US. Source GulfNews
Economics
Cybersecurity firms ESET and Dragos Inc. release detailed analyses of a piece of malware used to attack the Ukrainian electric utility Ukrenergo, what they say represents a dangerous advancement in critical infrastructure hacking. The researchers describe that malware, as only the second-ever known case of malicious code purpose-built to disrupt physical systems. The first, Stuxnet, was used l to destroy centrifuges in an Iranian nuclear facility. Source Wired
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has begun laying off employees in its operations and technology division, part of the second-largest U.S. bank’s plan to cut costs. On Wednesday the bank cut jobs across that division, many of which came from its Charlotte, N.C., headquarters, a spokesman said. He would not specify the number of jobs lost. Source Reuters
With a population of more than a billion people with a median age of 20 years, Africa should be a retailer’s dream.
But a combination of corporate hubris, strategic missteps and the crash in commodity prices has made navigating the continent’s nascent consumer landscape a bigger-than-expected challenge for the world’s largest merchants. Source The Wall Street Journal
Google-owner Alphabet Inc. has agreed to sell robotics firm Boston Dynamics to SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications and technology company. Source The Verge
House Republicans made headway on President Donald Trump’s pledge to dismantle post-crisis financial rules by approving a sweeping bill Thursday that rips up major aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act. Source Bloomberg
The European Central Bank (ECB) left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday and dropped any reference to a future rate cut. In a statement it said it expected interest rates to “remain at present levels for an extended period of time,” but added that it would be ready to extend its quantitative easing (QE) program if needed. Source CNBC
Sweden’s national police chief has presented a new report about the country’s problem areas, increasing the number of districts classified as vulnerable or especially vulnerable. The report, which is likely to grab headlines in Sweden and abroad, follows another high-profile report from 2015 which listed 53 so-called vulnerable areas, including 15 considered especially vulnerable. Source The Local
Emmanuel Macron will not scrap UK border controls on French soil, according to the French interior minister, but Britain should pay more towards handling illegal migrants seeking to cross the Channel. Mr Macron, the newly-elected French President, vowed during his election campaign to renegotiate the Le Touquet agreement which enables British border officials to carry out checks in France. Source The Telegraph
Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang. Source Reuters
A NATO F-16 fighter jet has tried to approach the Russian defense minister’s plane above the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. The plane was warded off by a Russian Su-27 escorting the minister’s aircraft, according to journalists who were on board. Source RT
At least one person was stabbed during a mass brawl in Stamford Hill in which dozens of violent youths clashed using bats, knives and even machetes following an illegal rave, according to reports.
Riot police were dispatched to stop the “violence involving machetes and swords after illegal rave” in Stamford Hill near Lynmouth Road, Shomrim N.E. London, a neighborhood watch group said on Twitter. Source RT
Egyptian jets bombed a gathering site of Sinai-based Islamist militants, killing 12 and destroying several four-wheel-drive vehicles, the military said on Tuesday. Source Reuters
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim visited the Komotini Mosque on Monday addressing the Muslim population of the area as being Turks. The Turkish PM visited Thrace after he had official meetings with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Athens. Source Greek Reporter
A van driver was killed on a motorway near Calais on Monday night after crashing into a truck that had been blocked by a makeshift barricade set up by migrants hoping to jump aboard, local authorities have said. Source The Local
The Saudi navy seized a boat carrying weapons as it approached the kingdom’s offshore Marjan oilfield in the Gulf on Friday evening, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday. Source Rigzone
The International Monetary Fund urged Japan to avoid withdrawing fiscal policy stimulus and said monetary policy should be loosened further if risks to the economy materialize, warning of weak consumption that remains vulnerable to external shocks. Source Reuters
The prime ministers of the Visegrad Group, comprising Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, on Monday met their counterparts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Source Radio Poland
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he excepts to see the text of the Senate bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare on Thursday as Senate Republicans eye a vote on the legislation next week. “I am going to vote for this bill or vote against this bill determined based on how it affects people in Tennessee and actually how it affects our nation. And my understanding is I’m going to see it on Thursday,” Corker told MSNBC. Source The Hill
The U.S. current account deficit widened slightly in the first quarter, as the country imported more crude oil, car parts and supplies for its factories. The current account deficit for the fourth quarter was revised up to $114.0 billion from the previously reported $112.4 billion. Source Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was prepared to “consider” new French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for a shake-up of the eurozone.
Speaking to business leaders in Berlin, Merkel acknowledged that the “economic cohesion of the eurozone member states leaves something to be desired”. Source The Local
Libya is pumping the most oil in four years after a deal with Wintershall enabled at least two fields to resume production, adding to the challenge that Opec and allied producers face in trying to pare global crude inventories. The North African country is currently producing about 900,000 bpd Source Gulf Times
Italian finance officials and the European Commission are racing to find a solution for two troubled banks in the northern Veneto region that have weighed on the nation’s financial system. Source Bloomberg
One of the chief supervisors of eurozone banks has said that institutions in the European Union should be preparing for a hard Brexit as part of their contingency planning. Source Financial News
According to Reuters, Japan-based JERA, the world’s largest buyer of LNG, is already using the crisis to push for less rigid contracts with Qatar, and allowing more imports from the US. Source GulfNews
A major disagreement has Macron and Rutte about the future of the eurozone. Macron is a big advocate of a euro zone parliament, its own budget and its own minister. This ‘deepening of the eurozone’ is being accustomed to the Netherlands because this transformation would transform monetary union into a transfer union, with money flowing from stronger to weaker countries. Source FD
The White House has not settled on a plan for working with Congress to raise the federal debt limit, U.S. budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday, even as the deadline loomed for the government to increase its borrowing authority. The Trump administration has urged Congress to increase the debt limit before it heads out for its August recess, but Mulvaney said officials had not decided what form the legislation should take. Source Reuters
Chinese authorities have asked lenders to suspend some business dealings with the insurer, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who didn’t provide further details. At least six large banks have stopped selling Anbang policies at their branch networks, with some taking action before the government notice, people with knowledge of their operations said. Source Bloomberg
Take a taxi company Taxi find it unfair and even suspect how different the town deals with taxi drivers. “Quality Taxis are constantly monitored on the street and get the slightest suspension, while drivers of taxi service Uber and mustache nice managers can get their illegal way.” Source AT5
