General Electric (GE) has announced a plan to cut around 1,000 jobs in France, said a trade union source, in a move that could set the U.S. company at odds with the French government which has consistently urged GE not to cut French jobs. Source: Euronews
France
Air France-KLM blamed higher fuel costs and price competition as it posted a deeper first-quarter loss on Friday, sending the airline group’s shares lower. Source: Reuters
Shares of SocGen, France’s third-largest bank, have tumbled more than 37% over a 12-month period, as challenging market conditions continued to hobble Europe’s banks. Source: CNBC
A French warship passed through the strategic Taiwan Strait this month, U.S. officials told Reuters, a rare voyage by a vessel of a European country that is likely to be welcomed by Washington but increase tensions with Beijing. Source: Reuters
Emmanuel Macron has launched a charm offensive towards his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, talking of multilateralism and cooperation while tiptoeing around subjects such as human rights. Source: The Guardian
Rioters clashed with police in the eastern French city of Grenoble on Sunday night after two teenagers died in a collision with a coach while they were being chased by police. Source: BBC
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday asked the Dutch government to clarify why it bought more than 12 percent of shares in the holding company for the Air France-KLM alliance without first advising Paris Source: The Spokesman-review
More than a third of EDF’s (EDF.PA) workforce in France was on strike on Thursday in protest against a restructuring plan, the state-controlled utility said, reducing French power generation by more than 10%. Source Reuters
The European Union must introduce a new, automatic system of taking in migrants saved from the Mediterranean, the leaders of Italy and France said on Wednesday, as they sought to patch up bruised bilateral relations. Source Reuters
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry slams U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran following strikes Saturday on the world’s largest crude-processing plant and an oil field in Saudi Arabia.
- The U.S. accuseds Iran of carrying out the attacks that forced the Saudi kingdom to shut down half its oil production.
- Russia, Iran’s top ally, calls the sanctions “destructive” and adds that they “will not solve anything,” Reuters reported, citing news agency Interfax.
Philippine health officials on Thursday declared a polio outbreak in the country, nearly two decades after the World Health Organization declared it to be free of the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease. Source Japan Times
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described attacks on Saudi oil facilities as an “act of war” by Iran. Tehran has denied a role in the attacks and said a military strike against Iran would end in “all-out war.” Source Deutsche Welle
South Korea has removed Japan from its list of most trusted trading partners, the latest sign of unraveling ties between two U.S. allies mired in a series of disputes. Source JapanTimes
For the first time ever, regional rivals China and India are taking part in joint military exercises organised by Russia. This year’s theme is the battle against an imaginary terrorist state in Central Asia. But what is the real message? Source RFI
The defence lawyer of a crown witness in a major gangland investigation was shot dead in the Amsterdam district of Buitenveldert on Wednesday morning, police say. Derk Wiersum was representing Nabil B, a key witness in the case against gangland boss Ridouan Taghi. Taghi is said to be behind a string of killings in Utrecht and Amsterdam in the ongoing the ongoing ‘mocro mafia’ drugs wars. Source DutchNews
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has shown off what it says is wreckage of drones and cruise missiles that proves Iranian involvement in weekend attacks on two oil facilities. It said 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were fired from a direction that ruled out Yemen as a source. Source BBC
The Army Reserve activated seven new units this week, including a regional support group capable of supporting thousands of soldiers, such as those in Poland, where troops are deployed to deter Russian activities. Source: Military.com
The former prime minister of Italy has parted ways with the Democratic Party, saying it lacked vision for the future. His decision could destabilize a coalition government between PD and the populist 5-Star Movement. Source Deutsche Welle
The launch of Huawei’s latest smartphone, the Mate 30, has been hampered by the ongoing trade war between China and the US, which has resulted in Google pulling its apps and services from the company’s new devices. Source The Guardian
Although economic output continues to double the growth rates of the euro zone, the pace of that growth is slowing down. First- and second-quarter growth were both around 0.5%, making it difficult for the economy to expand at a rate of 2.2% in 2019, as the Spanish government had forecast. Source El Pais
Technicians are busy examining a new Magnetic Levitation Train prototype in a factory in Zhuzhou, central China’s Hunan Province, SHINE reported. Zhuzhou, a city known as a forerunner of China’s rail transit manufacturing industry, is fostering innovation and production of Maglev trains. Source Asia Times
The Federal Reserve Wednesday lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point and many policy-makers said they believed another quarter-point cut this year would be appropriate. Source MarketWatch
Borrowing rates skyrocketed on Tuesday in a corner of the markets the public rarely notices but that is critical to the functioning of the global financial system. The spike in overnight borrowing rates forced the New York Federal Reserve to come to the rescue with a special operation aimed at easing stress in financial markets. Source CNN
The Federal Reserve stepped into financial markets on Tuesday to keep short-term interest rates from rising — the first time the central bank has had to carry out this type of “market operation” since the global financial crisis. Source The New York Times
Gold is moving to Singapore and Switzerland as some individual investors eye other offshore jurisdictions to store their holdings of the precious metal, according to companies that sell gold in the city. Source: Financial Times
Liberal professions to rally against government’s plans to simplify France’s pensions system amid fears over rights and payments. Lawyers, flight attendants, pilots, doctors, physiotherapists and self-employed nurses were due to demonstrate against the government’s pension reform plans on Monday, days after Paris was crippled by a public transport workers’ strike in protest at the same issue. Source Connexion
Iran has seized a boat suspected of being used to smuggle fuel and arrested its 11 crew members near a vital oil shipping lane, state television reported on Monday. A naval patrol of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intercepted the vessel carrying 250,000 litres of fuel near the Strait of Hormuz, state TV’s website said, citing a commander of the force. Source France24
China’s economy slowed further in August, indicating more stimulus steps may be needed to shield the economy from the worsening effects of the trade war with the U.S. Industrial
output rose 4.4% on year, missing a consensus of 5.2%, while retail sales expanded 7.5% versus 7.9%. Working-level U.S.-China trade talks resume this week. Source: Bloomberg
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran is responsible for the drone attacks on important facilities in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province that reportedly forced the kingdom to shut down half of its oil production on Saturday.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which created a huge fire at a processor essential to global energy supplies.
- “We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks,” Pompeo said. Source CNBC
