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
Germany
Germany’s economic output turns out even weaker as its manufacturing PMI for September misses expectations. Analysts forecast the PMI to be 44, while official figures show the index to be at 41.4. Source: Bloomberg
It’s the weakest headline reading since November 2012 and this will continue to suggest that Germany is tilting towards a technical recession currently with the economic slowdown showing no signs of stopping. Source: Forexlive
Labour demand in Germany is declining at an alarming rate. Similar and further declines are to be expected as demographic changes begin to impact Economies across Europe.
German industrial production registered its biggest annual decline in almost a decade, highlighting the severity of the trade-inflicted manufacturing slump in Europe’s largest economy. Source: Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank is planning to overhaul its trading operations by creating a so-called bad bank to hold tens of billions of euros of non-core assets, a source close to the matter said on Monday. Source: Reuters
A senior German diplomat was in Tehran on Thursday for meetings with Iranian officials to try to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and cool rising tensions in the region, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. Source: Reuters
Several hundred health workers took to the streets of Paris on Thursday afternoon to protest against conditions in French hospitals, as the number of new coronavirus cases surges across the country. Source France24
Since a new decree went into effect in Italy this summer, 220,000 migrants have applied to get temporary papers, according to Deputy Interior Minister Matteo Mauri. Meanwhile, he also said that the exploitation of undocumented farmworkers in the Foggia region had to be stopped. Source Info Migrants
‘An armed attack on Sweden cannot be ruled out,’ said Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist as he presented the country’s future military strategy. Sweden said Thursday it would boost military spending by 40 percent over the next four years as it seeks to ramp up defence capabilities in the face of European tensions. Source The Local
The global aviation industry will take at least two years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and for mass travel to return, Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung has said, stressing the importance of developing a widely available and effective vaccine to help countries open their borders. Source JapanTimes
Compared to the Trump administration’s sweeping revocation of visas for “high-risk” students and researchers with suspected ties to the Chinese military, Japan’s response to campus spying has largely been muted.
But even “spy heaven,” as the nation is often dubbed due to its lack of a comprehensive anti-espionage law, can no longer remain complacent. Source JapanTimes
Local media on Wednesday (Oct. 15) reported that Taiwanese F-16 fighter jets outmaneuvered a Chinese Sukhoi-30 (Su-30) fighter jet over the Taiwan Strait and drove it out of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) last month. Source Taiwan News
Greece started building a new fence across its northeastern border with Turkey, a project aimed at avoiding a repeat of the tensions last March when thousands of migrants attempted to scale the fence and enter into EU soil. Source Ekathemirini
A Greek court sentenced the leadership of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party to 13 years in prison Wednesday, imposing the near-maximum penalty for running a criminal organization blamed for numerous violent hate crimes. Source Ekathimerini
Ten people, including a senior operations manager at Uber in Italy, are under investigation over the alleged exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers by the company’s food-delivery arm, prosecutors have said. Source The Guardian
Germany’s foreign minister on Tuesday criticized Turkey for “unilateral steps” in the eastern Mediterranean that are undercutting efforts to de-escalate tensions with Greece and Cyprus over sea boundaries and drilling rights. Source Ekathimerini
At around 10 p.m., the firefighters were called in for a dustbin fire on rue du Barrois. When they arrived, a waste container was burning in the middle of the road.
During their intervention, around thirty masked and hooded individuals, aged between 16 and 20, approached, some armed with baseball bats . They tried to surround the vehicles. The firefighters decided to pack up, back up about fifty meters and alert the police. Source ActuFr
Investors queued up to buy Italy’s new three-year bond on Tuesday, even though they will get nothing back until early 2024.
The sale of Rome’s first benchmark government bond with a zero coupon, meaning it offers no interest payments, is the latest sign of red-hot demand for riskier eurozone debt, as investors bet that the European Central Bank will scale up its asset-purchasing programme. Source FT
- Central bank is developing its own e-yuan as it seeks to hasten the transformation of China’s economy
- Digital currency being used for transactions ranging from bill payments to government services in pilot tests Source South China Morning Post
Denmark gave the green light Thursday to the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 consortium to operate its Baltic Sea gas pipeline in Danish waters, the country’s energy agency announced.
“Nord Stream 2 AG has been granted an operations permit for the Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the Danish continental shelf,” the energy agency said via a statement. “The permit has been granted on a number of conditions to ensure a safe operation of the pipelines.” Source Deutsche Welle
he Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) raised 487.5 million euros on Wednesday through the auction of 26-week treasury bills at a uniform yield of -0.10%. Source Ekathimerini
About 40,000 workers in the airline industry are facing layoffs on Thursday unless Congress comes up with another aid package Source ABC
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts notified the Florida unemployment department Tuesday of impeding layoffs across the theme park’s properties that includes nearly 10% of its employees across the state. Source Click Orlando
U.S. and European oil majors’ commitment to moving away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy threatens oil supplies and prices, Russia’s state-run oil giant Rosneft has said, according to the Financial Times. Source Moscow Times
Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs, or over 10% of its workforce, as part of a major overhaul to shift the oil and gas giant to low-carbon energy.
Shell, which had 83,000 employees at the end of 2019, said that the reorganization will lead to annual savings of $2 billion to $2.5 billion by 2022. Source Shell
The German finance minister has kicked off days of debate over the 2021 budget, arguing for more debt to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s a really, really” large sum, admitted Scholz. Source Deutsche Welle
The world’s largest group of shipping insurers will not insure vessels involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipeline projects because of the threat of U.S. sanctions. Source Reuters
Italy expects debt to rise to about 160% of gross domestic product by the end of this year despite a smaller-than-forecast contraction of the economy, officials familiar with ongoing budget talks said. The new figures, which are provisional and still subject to change, see the economy expanding 6% in 2021, the officials said, asking not to be named discussing confidential deliberations. Source Bloomberg Quint
