Austria has mulled over the possibility of new sanctions against Russia due to the detention of three Ukrainian Navy vessels that sailed toward the Kerch Strait in what Moscow has described as an unequivocal provocation committed in violation of international law. At a secret meeting of the Political and Security Committee in Brussels on Tuesday, French and German diplomats spoke out against stepping up existing EU sanctions against Russia in light of the growing rift between Moscow and Kiev over the Kerch Strait incident. Source: Sputnik
Trade Cooperation
Kosovo Prime Minister says taxes on imports from Serbia and Bosnia will rise from 10 to 100 per cent immediately – a day after Serbia hailed the failure of its bid to join Interpol. Source: Balkan Insight
Russia may launch settlements with Iran in national currencies in order to continue bilateral cooperation despite the US sanctions against Tehran, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with the Anadolu news agency on Sunday. Source: TASS
Tehran has expressed hope that the Iran nuclear deal can be saved despite the US pulling out of the agreement. Iran’s statement came during a visit of the British foreign minister to Iran. Source: Deutsche Welle
China said it will continue pursuing negotiations with Canada on a free-trade deal after assurances that a recently settled North American trade agreement would not stop Ottawa from signing deals with other countries. Source: South China Morning Post
The nation’s lawmaking body approved the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, following Australia’s ratification on October 31. Source: South China Morning Post
China on Thursday reported exports and imports for the month of October that exceeded forecasts, the country’s General Administration of Customs reported. Source: CNBC
Asked about these developments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing Tuesday that “countries in the Western Hemisphere, including Latin American countries, are all sovereign states,” so “they have the right to determine their own foreign policy and their way to engage in mutually beneficial cooperation with countries of their own choosing.” Source: Newsweek
Emmanuel Macron has launched a charm offensive towards his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, talking of multilateralism and cooperation while tiptoeing around subjects such as human rights. Source: The Guardian
In a bid to reduce the stream of migrants into the country, Denmark is spending extra money to dissuade asylum seekers from taking the perilous journey to Europe, which, according to Denmark’s Foreign Ministry, involves a high risk of violence, sexual assault, exploitation, trafficking and torture. Source: Ritzau
North Korea has returned its staff to an inter-Korean liaison office, Seoul said on Monday (Mar 25), just days after unilaterally withdrawing from the joint facility. Source: Channel NewsAsia
The Pentagon has sent ships through the Taiwan Strait — the third time in as many months — as Washington ramps up naval activities in the waterway, stoking fears in Beijing of a growing alignment with Taipei. Source: Japan Times
Attorney General William Barr said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation did not find sufficient evidence to establish that President Donald Trump committed an obstruction of justice offense, or that the president’s campaign coordinated with Moscow’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. Source: CNBC
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
Italy remained the holder of Europe’s biggest public-debt burden in 2018 even after France’s rose to almost match it. France’s debt reached 2.3153 trillion euros ($2.62 trillion), just 1.4 billion euros below its southern neighbor’s. Italy’s debt as a ratio of economic output — 132.1 percent of GDP and France’s 98.4 percent. Source Bloomberg
Global trade has taken a sharp turn down, reinforcing the view that the world economy is in its worst state since since the financial crisis a decade ago. Figures published Monday show trade fell 1.8 percent in the three months through January compared with the previous perid. That’s the biggest drop since May 2009. On a year-on-year basis, trade posted its first decline in nine years in the three-month period. Source: Bloomberg.
European shares opened deep in the red on Monday, adding to the worst weekly fall of the year last week after disappointing economic data in Europe and the United States stoked fears of recession. Source: Reuters
China’s oil giants aim to spend the most in five years in pursuit of higher energy output. But unlike global rivals investing in top-tier assets, the state-owned producers are trying to boost supply from fields that are either old and high-cost or new and challenging. Source: Bloomberg
Iran’s oil exports so far in March are down from January and February to average around 1 million bpd-1.1 million bpd ahead of the US decision to extend or deny new waivers, Reuters reported Thursday. Source: RT
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
