A heavy goods vehicle caught fire during the night of Monday to Tuesday on the port bypass of Calais, after trying to break through a burning dam installed by migrants. According to one source, the truck driver was also attacked. Very slightly injured, he was taken to the hospital for treatment. Source: France3
Geostrategic Countries
French Prime Minister has announced plans to punish people who hold unsanctioned protests after seven weeks of anti-government unrest. His government wants to draft new legislation that will ban troublemakers from protests and clamp down on the wearing of masks at demonstrations. He said 80,000 members of the security forces would be deployed for the next expected wave of protests. Source: BBC
“We will return to the polls but through the distributor,” announced Facebook on January 7 Maxime Nicolle, aka “Fly Rider”, one of the most media figures of yellow vests. This call is not trivial and begins to spread on social networks. The operation is called the “tax collectors’ referendum” and consists of going simultaneously to the ATMs to get the most out of their wealth. “Many people will withdraw their money from banks. Source: Capital
Xi’s speech was made at a meeting of top officials from the Central Military Commission (CMC), which he heads, and broadcast later on national television.
“All military units must correctly understand major national security and development trends, and strengthen their sense of unexpected hardship, crisis and battle,” he said.
China is keen to beef up its armed forces amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea and escalating tension with the United States over issues ranging from trade to the status of Taiwan. Source South China Morning Post
- Auto sales in China fell 3 percent in 2018 — their first decline in about two decades, according to China auto consulting firm ZoZoGo.
- It was a mild introduction to even more pain coming for automakers doing business in Asia this year.
- ZoZoGo sees an even bigger drop coming in 2019. Source CNBC
Spanish coastguards rescued 401 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean over the first two days of the new year. The news comes just days after a charity rescue vessel carrying 311 mainly African migrants plucked off the coast of Libya docked in Spain, ending a traumatic journey which saw them spend Christmas at sea. Source RTE
One of the leaders of the “yellow vest” anti-government demonstrations, Eric Drouet, was detained by French police and placed in custody on Wednesday for organizing a central Paris protest without declaring it, according to a source at the prosecutors office. Source Voice of America
Members of Italy’s ruling governing party the 5-Star Movement voted on Monday to block a possible kidnapping trial against Matteo Salvini, its coalition ally and leader of the hard-right League party. The online ballot is meant to dictate how 5-Star senators should vote on Tuesday in a parliamentary committee reviewing whether magistrates can continue a probe into Salvini, who is also interior minister and deputy prime minister. Source Thomson Reuters
Five Star movement asks supporters whether Matteo Salvini should be prosecuted for allegedly kidnapping migrants. Members of Italy’s ruling Five Star Movement are voting online on Monday to decide whether to block a possible kidnapping trial against Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, a coalition ally and leader of the right-wing League party. Source Aljazeera
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested over the weekend that a mosque in Athens should open with minarets if Greece wants to reopen the Halki Orthodox seminary near Istanbul. Source Ekathimerini
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
Poland’s foreign ministry on Friday (Feb 15) summoned Israel’s ambassador over reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicated Poles in the Holocaust. Source: Channel News Asia
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a “strong response” to a car bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed at least 42 paramilitary personnel, with New Delhi calling for “the complete isolation of Pakistan” for harbouring the armed group behind the devastating attack. Source: Al Jazeera
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit China next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday (Feb 15), as part of a swing through Asia in which the monarch is expected to sign an investment package with cash-strapped Pakistan. Source Channel NewsAsia
- European citizens are due to vote on new representatives for the European Parliament between May 23 and 26.
- However, years of economic stagnation and long-lasting crises over immigration in Europe have translated into a push toward anti-establishment parties across the continent.
France is sending its ambassador back to Italy following the biggest diplomatic dispute between the two countries since World War II. Source: Star Tribune
The demonstrations were sparked nearly three months ago by President Emmanuel Macron’s introduction of fuel taxes, but quickly morphed into a more general revolt against austerity measures, and the political establishment in general, despite a Government climb-down over the tax. Source: UN
Immigration into Switzerland rose again last year, taking the foreign population further above 2 million as the wealthy country’s open-door policy for Europeans faces a right-wing challenge. Source: The Sun Daily
Turkey saw 72,937 house sales in January with a 24.8-percent annual fall, the country’s statistical office announced on Feb. 18. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said 31,048 newly-built houses were sold while the rest were second-hand sales last month. Source Daily News
- China’s car sales in January fell 15.8 percent from last year, China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
- This marks the seventh straight month of declining sales in the world’s largest auto market.
- Beijing is now trying to persuade consumers to loosen their purse strings and has pledged to provide subsidies to boost rural sales of some vehicles and purchases of new energy vehicles.
- China’s car sales in January fell 15.8 percent from last year, China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
- This marks the seventh straight month of declining sales in the world’s largest auto market.
- Beijing is now trying to persuade consumers to loosen their purse strings and has pledged to provide subsidies to boost rural sales of some vehicles and purchases of new energy vehicles.
The biggest U.S. bank said it developed a prototype digital coin that it plans to use to speed up payments between corporate customers. The token, dubbed JPM Coin, is based on blockchain technology, a decentralized public ledger of transactions that offers more speed because it doesn’t rely on a central record keeper. Source: Bloomberg
FCA Group, Ford and Volkswagen led a 4.6 percent decline in European car registrations in January, industry data showed, dampened by an economic slowdown in euro zone economies and consumer jitters over Brexit and trade. Source Reuters
Russia’s Gazprom will start gas supplies to China from Dec. 1, a month earlier than planned, the gas producer said on Friday. Deliveries of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline were due to begin at the end of December 2019, but the project is only expected to reach full capacity in 2025. Source: Reuters
Two days of U.S.-Chinese trade talks ended with no specific details about whether progress was made or not Friday, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called them “productive” on Twitter. Source: WLOX
- In new official data out of China, both the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index inflation came in weaker than expected for January.
- The data comes amid a new round of U.S.-China talks in Beijing this week as the world’s two largest economies renewed efforts to reach a deal to defuse trade tensions
- China’s January dollar-denominated exports rose 9.1 percent from a year ago, defying a forecast of a 3.2 percent contraction.
- China’s imports fell 1.5 percent over the same period, far better than the 10 percent decline that was expected.
- China’s overall trade surplus of $39.16 billion in January also beat expectations.
“The standard of living is under pressure from how many people do not contribute to the labour market”, Aarhus University professor of economic Bo Sandemann Rasmussen said. “As for refugees and immigrants, the extent to which they don’t participate in the labour market will only result in reduced growth and prosperity contribution”, he concluded. Source: Sputnik News
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
Turkish exploration ships will soon start drilling for oil and gas offshore the northern part of Cyprus, the energy minister of the Turkish Cypriots told Turkish Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, a move that could reignite tension between Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece regarding the exploration rights off the eastern Mediterranean island. Source: Oilprice
