The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday US proposals for coordinated efforts to fight Islamic State militants in Syria could be accepted. Some technical details just need to be specified, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov says. Source: TASS
US
Drillers are cutting costs with a speed and brutality not seen in decades, enabling many oil producers to maintain output even as prices remain low. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees crude falling a further $10 a barrel as storage tanks fill up in the coming months. Source: Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co, looking to stem falling revenue in its mortgage business as fewer Americans refinance, is increasingly buying loans from smaller lenders, a practice that competitors including Bank of America view as risky. JPMorgan said it reviews every loan it buys in detail. Source: Reuters
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei banned any further negotiations between Iran and the United States, less than three months after Iran signed a nuclear deal with the West. In an address to Revolutionary Guards Navy commanders, Khamenei said talks with the United States brought only disadvantages to Iran. Source: Reuters
Russia and the US tentatively agreed to resume talks on how to prevent conflicts between their warplanes in the skies over Syria. After days of complaints about a lack of cooperation and risky maneuvers by Russian warplanes, Russia’s Defense Ministry offered to hold another round of discussions. Source: Washington Post
An NHS worker who organised a protest over the government’s 1 per cent pay offer in Manchester city centre has been fined £10,000. Karen Reissmann, a mental health worker and Unison rep, was among those who turned up for the demonstration in St Peter’s Square at midday on Sunday. All attendees were wearing masks and cones were marked out on the floor to help maintain social distancing. Source Manchester Evening News
Scientists claimed the WHO mission was unable to act free of ‘political influence’, ahead of the publication of a final report this month. More than two dozen scientists have called for a new investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, amid concerns it was “all but impossible” for a World Health Organization-led team to operate free of political influence. Source Telegraph
Last week 745,000 people filed for first time unemployment benefits according to the Department of Labor. The high numbers reflect the severe effects the pandemic had on the economy and job market. With the recent data, roughly 80.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the covid outbreak last March. Source Forbes
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party was left isolated in the EPP, the group’s chair Manfred Weber has told Euronews after Fidesz quit the grouping on Wednesday. Orban pulled his party out of the conservative European People’s Party – which is the biggest in the European Parliament – due to changes to its internal rules. Source Euro News
- Some of those subject to the tests complained of ‘psychological distress’, a top government spokesman says
- The US has also protested after its diplomats were also reportedly subjected to the tests, a claim denied by Beijing
The Japanese government has requested China not to subject Japanese citizens entering the country to anal Covid-19 tests after receiving complaints of “psychological distress” from some of them, the top government spokesman said Monday. Source SCMP
Eight people have reportedly been left injured in an attack in southern Sweden described by police as an act of suspected terrorism. Authorities said the situation was “under control” with the suspected attacker having been shot and arrested by police. Source The Local
France on Wednesday banned far-right group Generation Identity (Génération Identitaire), which is known to be hostile to migrants, for incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said. Source France24
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is investigating the far-right Alternative for Germany — the largest opposition party in parliament — according to national media. The move comes ahead of national elections. Source DW
Ukrainian medical facilities have thrown away some unused COVID-19 vaccines after doctors failed to show up for their own appointments to be vaccinated, ruling party lawmakers said on Monday. Source Reuters
Morocco is suspending “all contact” with the German embassy in Rabat over Berlin’s stance on the Western Sahara region, local media reported late Monday. In December, Germany criticized then-US President Donald Trump for recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. Source DW
A Turkish drone maker has begun the conceptual design phase of what it hopes will become the country’s first combat drone. Haluk Bayraktar, the general manager of Baykar Savunma, said Feb. 28 that the aircraft is the firm’s “top priority program.” Source c4isrnet
General Motors will keep two of its assembly plants shuttered until at least mid-April, another until the end of March and will idle a fourth, all due to a severe shortage of semiconductor chips used in various vehicle parts. Source Detroit Free Press
Germany’s national carrier Lufthansa has announced billions of euros worth of losses for 2020. Coronavirus disruption has catapulted the airline into an unprecedented crisis. The German airline Lufthansa on Thursday announced a record loss of €6.7 billion ($8 billion) in the COVID-19-stricken year of 2020. That compared with a profit of €1.2 billion for 2019. Source DW
Investors flocked to Italy’s inaugural environment-focused government bond offering on Wednesday, allowing the country to raise more than €8bn. The banks running the issuance chalked up around €80bn in orders for €8.5bn of debt. It was the biggest debut sovereign green bond from a European issuer to date, according to Intesa Sanpaolo, which worked on the deal. Source FT
- A movement supporting reparations as a way to make amends for the atrocities of slavery and to reduce the persistent wealth gap is gaining momentum.
- One hundred and forty-two members of Congress support H.R. 40, the bill to study reparations.
- William Darity, professor of public policy at Duke University, estimates a concrete program could cost the U.S. government between $10 trillion and $12 trillion. Source CNBC
The House passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan early Saturday in a nearly party-line vote, advancing a sweeping pandemic aid package that would provide billions of dollars for unemployed Americans, struggling families and businesses, schools and the distribution of coronavirus vaccines. Source MSN
Exxon Mobil erased almost every drop of oil-sands crude from its books in a sweeping revision of worldwide reserves to depths never before seen in the company’s modern history.
Exxon counted the equivalent of 15.2 billion barrels of reserves as of Dec. 31, down from 22.44 billion a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. The company’s reserves of the dense, heavy crude extracted from Western Canada’s sandy bogs dropped by 98%. Source World OIl
German construction and engineering group Bilfinger has withdrawn from work related to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, German tabloid Bild reported, citing letters it has obtained. Source World Pipelines
Spain’s public debt ended 2020 at 117.1% of gross domestic product as the coronavirus pandemic and the measures imposed to curb it lifted borrowing and led to a deep economic contraction, the Bank of Spain said on Wednesday. Source Reuters
- Spain’s Abengoa (OTCPK:ABGOF, OTCPK:ABGOY) says it filed a request for bankruptcy before the court in Seville, becoming the country’s biggest company to go bust.
- The renewable energy company had €7.9B ($9.6B) in liabilities as of March 31, of which €3.9B were net corporate debt, according to its latest earnings statement.
- Abengoa’s restructuring deal with creditors fell apart after it failed to secure €20M from Andalusia’s regional government. Source Seeking Alpha
Global debt rose to a new record high of $281.5 trillion in 2020, driven by measures to curb economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a global trade group of financial institutions. Source AA
Less than a month after a senior politician in Paris asked Germany to put a stop to the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, energy giant Gazprom has revealed that France has bought 43 percent more Russian gas so far this year. The latest financial report from the country’s largest company divulged that France’s underground gas storage facilities are less than 30 percent full. Source RT
