Russia has signed an estimated $2 billion contract for the supply of about 12 Su-35 multi-role fighter jets to Egypt. Source: Defenseworld
Pivot Countries
Turkey’s military conducted the second day of its largest naval exercise in its history on Thursday, carrying out drills with frigates, corvettes and submarines in the Black Sea, Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Source: Reuters
As widely expected, ExxonMobil said on Thursday that it had made a natural gas discovery southwest off Cyprus, which Cypriot authorities hailed as the largest find offshore the eastern Mediterranean island to date. Source: Oilprice.com
The EU has announced an additional €30 million in humanitarian assistance. Another €20 million in development funding will contribute to the reconstruction of the country’s cultural heritage. Source: European Commission
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated that the main opposition party Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) stake in the listed private lender İşbank will be transferred to the country’s Treasury. After the death in 1938 of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, his 28.1 percent stake in İşbank was transferred to the CHP. Source Daily Hurriyet
A Turkish charity group is building the biggest mosque of the Balkans in the Albanian capital Tirana, according to a statement on Friday.
In a written statement, the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) — linked to the state Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) — said the Namazgah Mosque will be completed and open for worship by the end of this year. Source: Anadolu Agency
Turkey issued an announcement on Thursday declaring it will conduct “seismic research” in a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean which includes parts of the Greek continental shelf and the Cypriot E.E.Z. The new Turkish navigational telex (NAVTEX) refers to an area which overlaps both the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus and Greece’s continental shelf off the island complex of Kastellorizo. Source Greek Reporter
Dutch nationalist newcomer party, Forum voor Democratie, became the largest party in the provincial elections on Wednesday.
The result also showed that the current Dutch government loses its majority in the senate.
Misunderstandings over China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are “hard to avoid”, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday ahead of a trip to Europe by President Xi Jinping during which Italy is set to join the multi-billion dollar trade scheme. Source: Reuters
On Tuesday, volunteers onboard the Mare Jonio “rescued” about 50 people from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya, prompting Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to say he was ready to stop private vessels “once and for all” from bringing rescued people to Italy. Source: The Guardian
The latest incident happened early on Tuesday morning a few blocks away from the location of an explosion that happened early Monday, the local police said.”The damaged car was towed for further trace investigation,” says police spokesman Willem Migom. Source: The Brussels Times
The suspect, a 47-year-old man from Senegal, is accused of arson and kidnapping. It is unclear what the motive for the alleged attack was, but he reportedly told police that he wanted to kill himself and “stop the deaths in the Mediterranean”. Source: The Guardian
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
- 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
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
