Despite high profits in 2018, Volkswagen has announced heavy job cuts. The company has said it would reinvest the money into developing electric vehicles. Source: Deutsche Welle
Germany
German carmaker Volkswagen is to pay around 100,000 employees on collective wage deals a 2018 bonus of 4,750 euros ($5,400) each, the largest such payout since 2015 when they received 5,900 euros, a newsletter to staff said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters
Germany is facing international embarrassment after it emerged that prison officials paid a convicted 9/11 accomplice €7,000 in cash. Source: Telegraph
Slow global trade, auto industry troubles and low water on the Rhine all contributed to a final-quarter GDP of zero percent, meaning Europe’s biggest economy staved off a technical recession by the smallest of margins. Source: Deutsche Welle
- 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
The German government is debating whether to follow the United States and allies such as Australia in restricting China’s Huawei Technologies from accessing its next-generation mobile networks on national-security grounds.
Some Western countries have barred Huawei from their markets after US officials briefed allies that Huawei is at the beck and call of the Chinese state, warning that its network equipment may contain “back doors” that could open them up to cyberespionage. Huawei says such concerns are unfounded. Source: The Irish Time
Forty-nine rescued refugees and migrants, including 12 minors, remained stranded at sea on Tuesday on board a nonprofit rescue ship as Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini barred them from disembarking in Italy. Source: Al Jazeera
US Ambassador Richard Grenell is in new trouble: because Donald Trump confidante is interfering in German budget planning, Wolfgang Kubicki, vice-president of the Bundestag, sharply criticises him. There is also discontent within the Union. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) must declare US Ambassador Richard Grenell “immediately” as a persona non grata, FDP Vice-Chairman Wolfgang Kubicki said. Kubicki reacted to the ambassador’s interference in the German budget debate with this drastic demand. Source: Die Welt
Turkey and Iran carried out a joint operation against the PKK terrorists, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Monday. “We started staging a joint operation with Iran against the PKK on our eastern border as of 08:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) this morning,” Soylu said. Soylu noted that the government will announce the results soon. Source: Daily Sabah
Since the attack in Christchurch, Mr Erdogan has been using clips from the graphic video filmed by the gunman to denounce Islamophobia during campaign rallies. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called on New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two Christchurch mosques, warning that Turkey would make the attacker pay for his act if New Zealand did not. “They are testing us from 16,500 kilometres away, from New Zealand, with the messages they are giving from there,” he said. “This isn’t an individual act, this is organised.” Source: ABC News
The cyber attack on aluminum producer Norsk Hydro began on Monday evening and escalated during the night, the Norwegian state agency in charge of cyber security said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters
In the aftermath of the Saint-Sulpice fire, the investigators have already made some conclusions on Monday. According to information from LCI, the origin of the incident occurred Sunday around 13:30 on a door of a facade of the church overlooking Palatine Street in the 6th arrondissement is “human” and “deliberate”. Source: LCI
Authorities in China have arrested almost 13,000 “terrorists” in the restive far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the government said Monday, in a lengthy policy paper again defending its controversial Islamic de-radicalization measures. Source: Japan Times
China on Saturday rejected German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s appeal to join a Cold War-era arms control treaty that the United States accuses Russia of breaching, saying it would place unfair limits on the Chinese military. Source: Japan Times
- Satellite imagery monitored the intensity of night lights in more than 3,300 cities and towns between 2013 and 2016
- In 28 per cent of cases, the intensity of lights had dimmed, but urban planners are still assuming China’s urbanisation will continue, research shows
Turkey and Iran carried out a joint operation against militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Monday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said according to state-owned media. Source: Reuters
Russia has signed an estimated $2 billion contract for the supply of about 12 Su-35 multi-role fighter jets to Egypt. Source: Defenseworld
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
Despite high profits in 2018, Volkswagen has announced heavy job cuts. The company has said it would reinvest the money into developing electric vehicles. Source: Deutsche Welle
The UK economy grew faster than expected in January after bouncing back from a weak December, the latest official figures show. Source: Independent
According to the latest data released by World Gold Council, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon become the tenth largest holder of the metal in the world overtaking the Netherlands, reports Business Standard (BS). Source: Swarajya
China’s push to boost its gold holdings could see the country challenge Russia as the most aggressive buyer of the precious metal this year. The country’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has bought about 32 tonnes of gold in the past three months. If it keeps purchasing at that rate, China would surpass Russia and Kazakhstan, leading buyers in 2018 which have tapered their acquisitions recently. Source: Financial Times
- Chinese banks made 885.8 billion yuan (US$131.8 billion) in net new yuan loans in February, down from the record 3.23 trillion yuan in new lending in January
- People’s Bank of China says combined data for first two months of the year stable given Lunar New Year holiday effect
Plunging car output drove an unexpected drop in production of German goods in January and an industry body cut its 2019 growth forecast, adding to signs that trade tensions and unease about Brexit are weighing on Europe’s largest economy. Source: Reuters
