A total of 120,000 Turkish construction companies are set to halt activities on June 9 to protest a skyrocketing rise in iron prices and a visible undersupply in the material. The protests are expected to last one month, according to sector representatives. Source Hurriyet Daily
Real Estate
A downturn in Greece’s property market deepened in the first quarter, as uncertainty over its bailout program and chronic weakness in its banking sector further eroded a traditional pillar of the country’s ailing economy. Source ekathimerini
Italy is giving away more than 100 historic castles, farmhouses and monasteries for free in an effort to breathe new life into its disused public buildings. Source CBS
U.S. homebuilding fell in March in February and manufacturing output dropped for the first time in seven months, further indications that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter. The data last week showed the second monthly decline in retail sales in March as well a decrease in consumer prices. Source Reuters
China’s efforts to weed speculation out of the housing market seem futile as data show you ‘Can’t Beat the Real Thing’. Prices not only edged higher in more of the nation’s biggest cities during March, they did so at a faster pace too — a fearless challenge to government orders to stamp out speculation in red hot real estate markets. Source Asia Times
French politicians have cautioned construction-materials giant LafargeHolcim about the consequences of supplying cement for the 3000km wall that US President Donald Trump intends to build along the border with Mexico. Source Global Cement
China’s property sales surged in the first two months of the year despite government measures to cool the market, though growth in real estate investment showed signs of easing, according to official data on Tuesday. Property sales by area rose 25.1 percent year-on-year in January and February. Source: Reuters
The first priority for the new European Commission should be managing migration, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday at an event on youth participation in European politics. Source Ekathimerini
Dozens of angry farmers and people from the construction sector went to the police station in the center of Arnhem on Wednesday evening. This is a colorful procession of tractors, cars and vans from construction companies, among others. They are angry about the arrest of a co-demonstrator, police say. Source OmroepGelderLijn
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said that the new draft will be presented to North Korea’s first vice foreign minister who is currently on an official visit to Moscow. Source Tass
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has cast doubt on whether Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies could participate in the development and construction of the country’s fifth-generation data network (5G). Source Euro News
Collective and social center activists protest against the convention at Paladozza, where Salvini launches Borgonzoni’s candidacy for the Regionals in Emilia-Romagna. The demonstrators were approaching the plant and the agents made them back off. Source Sky
Swedish deputy director of public prosecutions, Eva-Marie Persson, announced the decision to drop the investigation again at a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday afternoon. Source: The Local SE
Chinese attempts to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential election campaign are happening “every day,” the island’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, said Tuesday. Source: The New York Times
Poland will continue to overhaul its justice system, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday in a speech laying out policy plans after the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party won a general election on Oct. 13. Source: Reuters
The Turkish government is committed to moving forward with the construction of the multibillion-dollar giant Kanal Istanbul project, the transportation minister has said, informing that companies from Benelux countries have shown a big interest in the project whose planning stage is about to be concluded. Source Daily News
The 5-Star Movement, senior partner in two coalitions since last year’s national election, is struggling with internal strife and falling support which threaten the survival of Italy’s two-month old government. “With the League they at least had in common that they were both seen as challengers of the old political system, but the PD is a symbol of the establishment 5-Star has always fought. Source Reuters
French police arrested 254 people during clashes in Paris and other cities on the first anniversary of the ‘yellow vest’ movement, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Sunday. Source The Local
Bank of Japan (BoJ), the country’s central bank, is conducting research on digital currencies, according to an official.
Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the central bank, announced the news in an interview with Reuters published Tuesday. Kuroda added that the BoJ currently has no plans to issue a digital currency but can do so in the future if need be. Source The Blockcrypto
South African Airways (SAA) has nearly no cash left and may miss salary payments this month, a board member said on Wednesday, as a crippling six-day strike has pushed the state-owned airline to the brink of financial collapse. Source Reuters
German auto supplier Continental <CONG.DE> on Wednesday said it would pare back its engine manufacturing activities as more stringent emissions rules threaten demand for combustion engine components, resulting in around 5,040 job losses by 2028. Continental said around 520 jobs will be lost when a site in Roding, Germany – which makes hydraulic components for petrol and diesel engines – is closed down in 2024. Source EuroNews
Indian group Tata Steel said Monday it would slash up to 3,000 jobs in Europe as it restructures European operations following the collapse of a planned merger. France24
Italian police are searching ArcelorMittal’s (MT.AS) offices in Milan and the southern city of Taranto in an investigation into the troubled Ilva steel plant, which the company wants to hand back to the government, ArcelorMittal said in a statement. Source Reuters
Draft budgets for 2020 prepared by the French and Italian governments risk violating EU rules on debt and deficit reduction, the European Commission said on Wednesday, but the Commission did not request any immediate changes. Source Reuters
Tata Steel is planning to scrap some 3 thousand jobs in Europe, European CEO of Tata Steel Hendrik Adam confirmed. Some 1,500 of the 11 thousand Tata Steel jobs in the Netherlands will be lost, a well-informed source within the company confirmed to RTL Z. Source: NLtimes
Italy’s government filed an urgent court appeal on Friday to try to stop ArcelorMittal (MT.AS) walking away from a 2018 deal to buy the troubled Ilva steel plant, as a union said the group was preparing to leave on Dec 4.Source Euronews
The government will cut its tax revenue estimate for fiscal 2019 possibly by more than ¥2 trillion, from ¥62.50 trillion ($575 billion), as a result of weaker-than-expected corporate earnings amid a slowdown in the global economy, according to official sources with knowledge of the matter. Source Japan Times
French hospital workers carry on their industrial action with another major strike in Paris on Thursday. They are demanding more resources and manpower while the government is fine-tuning a long-awaited financial support plan. Source France24
- Total car sales in the world’s biggest market fell 4 per cent from the same month a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Monday
- Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) fell 45.6 per cent in October following a 33 per cent decline in September Source SCMP
