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
France
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
French schools are to replace the words “mother” and “father” with “parent 1” and “parent 2” under a controversial same sex amendment to a law passed this week. Source: Telegraph
smaël Emelien, a close aide to President Emmanuel Macron whose name has recently been linked to the so-called “Benalla Affair”, has become the latest member of the president’s entourage to announce his resignation. Emelien, who served as Macron’s “special advisor” and was frequently described as his closest confidant, said in an interview with French weekly Le Point on Monday that he would be quitting by early April at the latest. Source France24
- Shortly before an important decision, France is against the planned gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, which advocates Germany.
- The decision is an amendment to an EU rule that would allow the Commission to take greater action against Nord Stream 2.
- The project of the Russian energy company Gazprom raises problems in the strained relationship between Moscow and the Europeans, France justifies.
France’s Foreign Ministry has signaled its intention to vote for changes to the EU’s Third Energy Package Gas Directive regulating gas imports when the topic comes up for discussion Friday in Brussels. The proposed changes would effectively extend existing rules to cover offshore pipelines. The posture signals a direct confrontation with Germany over the construction and operation of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that Berlin is currently building with Russia. Source Deutsche Welle
French President Emmanuel Macron’s government recalled its ambassador to Rome on Thursday in a move unprecedented since World War Two, saying it was fed up with “repeated, baseless” attacks by Italian political leaders against France. Source France24
According to the military governor of Paris, the soldiers are allowed to ” opening fire” under certain conditions, during the demonstrations of yellow vests. Source: LÉxpress.
Russia has wrapped up construction of its first rail bridge to China, connecting the two countries across the Amur River, Russian media reported on Thursday. Construction of the 2,200-meter bridge between Nizhneleninskoye in Russia and Tongjiang city in China began in 2014, underscoring Russia’s Eastern pivot amid deteriorating ties with the West. China completed construction of its section across what it calls the Heilongjiang River in October 2018. Source: The Moscow Times
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday it’s possible that God is working with President Trump to save Israel from the “Iranian menace.” Trump was interviewed by Chris Mitchell of the Christian Broadcasting Network, who asked if Trump might be like the Old Testament’s Queen Esther, whom God helped to save the Jews thousands of years ago.
“As a Christian I certainly believe that’s possible,” Pompeo replied. Source: Washington Examiner
hinese President Xi Jinping landed in Italy on Thursday evening, starting a five-day whistlestop European tour amid increasing unease in Western capitals over the economic powerhouse’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Source: Asia Times.
The French government’s decision to deploy the army as backup during Saturday’s weekly “yellow vest” protests has drawn fire, with the opposition warning of the risk of using soldiers for law and order.
Under pressure to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s rioting and looting on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the government on Wednesday announced plans to redeploy soldiers from the anti-terrorism Sentinelle patrol force to help police guard public buildings. Source: France24
Previous US administrations have treated Golan Heights as occupied Syrian territory, in line with UN security council resolutions. Trump declared his break with that policy, in a tweet on Thursday. Source: The Guardian
In a bid to reduce government expenditure, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has announced plans to reduce refugee funding by €1.3 billion from 2020, bringing it down from the current €4.7 billion budget, reported DPA. Source: The Local
he US Air Force recently deployed six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Europe for “theater integration and flying training” exercises with regional allies and NATO partners — a move viewed as sending a strong message to Russia, which is celebrating the five-year anniversary of its military annexation of Crimea. Source: CNN.
According to reports, Greece and Israel are building a new Long Horizon marine radar system in eastern Crete, with the enhanced coverage of the new surface radar allowing both countries to monitor the Eastern Mediterranean basin.
The Greek daily Kathimerini said the new surface radar will be able to track at long range, beyond the horizon, and both Israel and Greece will have access to its enhanced coverage.
The report added that the project is part of the broad political alliance among Israel, Greece, and Cyprus. Source: Greek City Times.
Dutch nationalist newcomer party, Forum voor Democratie, became the largest party in the provincial elections on Wednesday.
The result also showed that the current Dutch government loses its majority in the senate.
Misunderstandings over China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are “hard to avoid”, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday ahead of a trip to Europe by President Xi Jinping during which Italy is set to join the multi-billion dollar trade scheme. Source: Reuters
German 10-year bond yields dropped below zero for the first time in more than two years after the nation’s manufacturing sector fell deeper into contraction, compounding fears of an economic slowdown across the euro area. Source: Bloomberg.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked new drilling on 300,000 acres of land in Wyoming after ruling that the US Department of the Interior “did not sufficiently consider climate change” when allowing oil and gas companies to lease federal land in the state. Source: The Verge.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has announced plans to cut refugee and asylum seeker integration funding by just under a third ahead of 2020, drawing criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. In a bid to reduce government expenditure, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has announced plans to reduce refugee funding by €1.3 billion from 2020, bringing it down from the current €4.7 billion budget, reported DPA. Source: The Local.
The Kharasaveyskoye gas field is located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, a key gas-producing region in an economy that heavily relies on gas exports. This month, Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry estimated that the country’s natural resource reserves are worth 60 percent of its GDP. Source: The Moscow Times
- The announcement comes three months after the central bank said two hikes would be appropriate in 2019.
- The central bank also says it will complete its balance sheet roll-off program at the end of the September.
- The Fed also reduced expectations in GDP growth and inflation and a bump higher in the unemployment rate outlook.
The race to build the next generation of super-fast mobile-data networks has begun in Germany, which started auctioning off its spectrum licenses for 5G on Tuesday. Source: NPR
European and German bank watchdogs signaled they won’t simply bow to the desire to create the kind of national champions that the German government has in mind by brokering a merger between the country’s two biggest listed banks. Source: Bloomberg
Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom will start filling the Power of Siberia (Sila Sibiri) natural gas pipeline that connects Russia to China from September 1, Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk said in its corporate magazine on March 14, as cited by Prime. Source: Intellinews
Speaking to CNA, Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said a bilateral meeting between Anastasiades and Pompeo is expected to take place on the sidelines of the Cyprus-Israel-Greece trilateral Summit, in order to discuss Turkish threats in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone, among others. Source: Financial Mirror
The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia relating to Ukraine, targeting six individuals and eight organisations, according to a statement from the US Treasury. Source: Rte.
Norway’s government is proposing to expand the area that will be offered for oil and gas exploration in the 2019 licensing round of acreage in mature areas, Petroleum and Energy Minister Kjell-Børge Freiberg said on Thursday. Source: Oilprice
