Nord Stream 2 expects regulators to decide by May whether its contested natural gas pipeline linking Germany to Russia will be able to operate as planned. Already suffering U.S. sanctions, the project led by Gazprom PJSC is pinning its hopes on German regulator Bundesnetzagentur to help it clear hurdles erected by European Union competition authorities. So-called unbundling rules rolled out by the trade bloc last year require the owners of gas and those who deliver it by pipeline or ship to be separate legal entities, even the fuel comes from outside the EU. Source: Bloomberg
Geostrategic Countries
- Three developments have emerged from the survey: signs that cash flows have deteriorated quickly; new orders continue to fall; and the Chinese economy saw record levels of corporate borrowing.
- The rise in business loans is in part due to the comeback of shadow financing, according to the China Beige Book survey. Source: CNBC
MyDrivers reports that China’s homegrown Zhaoxin processors are now operational with its self-developed Unity Operating System (UOS). The news come on the tail of new Chinese government restrictions that force Chinese institutions to replace all foreign-powered PC hardware and software with domestically-produced products over a three-year span. Tongxin Software, the developer behind UOS, has been able to get the KaiXian processors to work on the desktop and server versions of UOS, respectively. The Chinese CPU maker has already laid out its ambitious plans for the company’s next generation of processors. Source: Tom’s Hardware
Gazprom PJSC and Ukraine reached a landmark agreement that will allow Russian gas to flow to Europe via its neighbour through the end of 2024 and settle all of the related legal disputes, even as the U.S. imposed sanctions on a separate Russian pipeline project in the Baltic. Source: Bloomberg
- Developers of FY-36 say they overcame ‘tons of problems’ to create alcohol-fuelled battery that allows 15kg (33lb)6 drone to fly for up to 12 hours
- With 15 test flights under their belt, Chinese team achieve methanol-powered flight before German company
Rosneft holds key meetings with METI and Jogmec over $157bn project. Participating in the project will help Japan diversify its energy supply away from the Middle East, from where it currently imports almost 90 per cent of its oil. Source: Financial Times
Never before in California history have more than 2 million people gone five days without electrical power because of the intentional safety policy of a utility. Source Los Angeles Times
Imams will recite verses of the Quran in Istanbul’s Byzantine-era cathedral Hagia Sophia during Friday’s prayers on the anniversary of the city’s 1453 conquest by Ottoman troops, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said according to reports Thursday.
Built in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia was the main seat of the Greek Orthodox church. It remained so until it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of the city, then-known as Constantinople, in 1453. Source Ekathimerini
On May 19, the Commerce Department issued new export rules to choke off Huawei’s access to semiconductor chips it needs to build cellphones and 5G infrastructure.
The new controls ban chipmakers — mostly based in South Korea and Taiwan — from using U.S. machines and software to manufacture semiconductors for Huawei. That closes a loophole that had allowed semiconductor makers to continue to sell components and designs to Huawei as long as they were made outside the U.S. Source KPCW
The Libyan Interior Ministry is investigating, through Mizda town’s security department, the murder of a Libyan national and 30 illegal immigrants in the town.
In a statement on Thursday, the Interior Ministry said a Libyan national in Mizda, accused of human trafficking, was killed by illegal immigrants while he was smuggling them to coastal cities. Source The Libya Observer
Anti-police rallies formed overnight, rumored to have involved law enforcement in the accident. Several witnesses say they had nothing to do with it. Urban violence broke out in Montigny-lès-Cormeilles, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, after the death of an 18-year-old boy hit by a train. He was crossing a small pedestrian crossing on the tracks. Source Le Parisien
A municipal police officer in Noisy-le-Sec found a warhead in his bullet-proof vest after clashes with young people from the Béthisy district on Wednesday evening. Source Le Parisien
German doctors and politicians are prepared to take in coronavirus patients from Russia. There has been no comment from Moscow, but observers in Germany are asking who will pay for their treatment. Source Deutsche Welle
Greece ordered approximately 400 police officers from different parts of the country to deploy along the border with Turkey at the Evros River as it braces for a new wave of migrants attempting to storm into Europe.
Speaking to a local television station in Antalya, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier in the week: “Due to the pandemic, the movement of migrants has slowed down. But they will definitely want to leave after the outbreak is over.” Source Greekreporter
Reports of repainted Russian fighter jets being sent to bomb Libya have nothing to do with reality, Moscow said in response to the latest sensational claims by US Africa Command about alleged Russian involvement in the region.
The accusation that Russia sent combat aircraft to Libya “does not correspond to reality,” Andrey Krasov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, told Interfax on Tuesday. Source RT
Russia recently sent fighter jets to Libya to support Russian mercenaries fighting for strongman Khalifa Haftar, the US military command for Africa (Africom) said Tuesday, in a major escalation in the long-running conflict. The military fighter aircraft left Russia and first stopped in Syria where they “were repainted to camouflage their Russian origin” before arriving in Libya, said Stuttgart-based Africom. Source France24
Pakistan’s army on Sunday warned that any attempt to challenge the disputed status of Indian-administered Kashmir, including any move toward aggression, will be answered with full military might.
“Kashmir is a disputed territory and any attempt to challenge the disputed status including any political cum military thought related to aggression will be responded with full national resolve and military might,” army chief Gen. Source Daily Sabah
Turkey’s defense chief has denounced recent harassment of Turkish vessels by Greek soldiers in the Aegean Sea as “very serious provocations.” “Despite all our attempts, understanding and patience for good neighborly relations, it is not possible to explain the harassment in the Aegean in recent days,” Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said Sunday. Source Daliy Sabah
France’s economy is on course to contract 20% in the second quarter from the previous three months as the country emerges from a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, the INSEE official statistics agency estimated on Wednesday. Source France24
The airline industry’s global debt could rise to US$550 billion by year-end, said the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In an analysis released yesterday, IATA that that is a US$120 billion increase over debt levels at the start of 2020.
It said US$67 billion of the new debt is composed of government loans (US$50 billion), deferred taxes (US$5 billion) and loan guarantees (US$12 billion). Source The Edge Market
The package includes an increase to the state subsidies given to motivate potential buyers of new electric and hybrid cars. The plan also includes a state loan worth €5 billion for troubled carmaker Renault. Source Deutsche Welle
Boeing Co (BA.N) said Wednesday it was eliminating more than 12,000 U.S. jobs, including involuntary layoffs of 6,770 U.S. workers as the largest American planemaker restructures in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Source Reuters
China seeks to have its planned sovereign digital currency ready in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics here, the central bank revealed Tuesday, as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates a shift away from cash.
The government plans to run pilot tests at Olympic venues, though there remains no official timetable for a release, People’s Bank of China Gov. Yi Gang told Chinese media in an interview released by the central bank. Limited trials are underway in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and the Xiongan New Area in the northern province of Hebei, he said. Source Asian Review
Airline giant Lufthansa said it cannot approve a German state rescue over fears that conditions imposed by Brussels would be too harsh. The aid package must still be cleared by the European Commission’s competition arm. Source Deutsche Welle
The European Central Bank (ECB) is drafting contingency plans to carry out its multi-trillion bond-buying programme without the Bundesbank in case Germany’s top court forces the main participant in the scheme to quit, four sources told Reuters. Source Reuters
A vast fiscal fightback to the coronavirus crisis unleashed by eurozone governments could raise questions about capitals’ ability to repay debts and revive the threat of countries exiting the single currency, the European Central Bank warned Tuesday. “The increase in public debt comes on top of already higher debt levels in some sovereigns,” ECB Vice-President Luis de Guindos said. Source International Business Times
Hertz paid out millions of dollars in bonuses to its executives just before its bankruptcy — and a month after it started laying off thousands of employees. Retention bonuses are typical for bankrupt companies that want to prevent their management from abandoning ship. But they’re always awkward: the company can’t pay its employees or its debts to lenders, but it prioritizes payments to its already handsomely paid bosses. Source CNN
It estimates the nation’s debt will be $20.61T on Oct. 1, compared with nominal GDP of more than $20T. The nonpartisan group, which advocates for reducing the federal debt, estimated the deficit for 2020 will top $3.8 trillion, more than double the record set during the 2008 financial crisis. Source Fox
Europe’s biggest low budget airline has said a €9 billion government rescue package for the German flag carrier amounts to an “illegal subsidy.” Ryanair’s CEO said Lufthansa is “addicted to state aid. Ryanair said Tuesday it would contest a €9 billion ($9.9 billion) aid package from the German government to prop up Lufthansa. The aid package must still be cleared by the European Commission’s competition arm. ” Source Deutsche Welle
