Cyprus has strongly protested at the UN over Turkey’s violations of the island’s national airspace, the infringements of international air traffic regulations and the illegal use of closed ports and airports. Source: Ekathimerini
Pivot Countries
“Iran will withstand this type of fight and Iran is not alone,” Zamir Kabulov, the Foreign Ministry’s special envoy for Asian countries including Iran, said at a Russian-Iranian policy forum in Moscow. Source: The Moscow Times
Iran has shot down a U.S. drone which the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday was flying over southern Iran, raising fears that a major military confrontation could erupt between Tehran and Washington. Source: Reuters
An extensive military operation was launched against the camps of the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq to clear militants from the region, whose presence in the area has been posing a national security threat to Ankara for decades with frequent attacks in southeastern Turkey. Source: Daily Sabbah
The U.S. will send hundreds of additional troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks to counter what the Pentagon said is an escalating campaign by Iran to plan attacks against the U.S. and its interests in the region. And for the first time, Pentagon officials on Friday publicly blamed Iran and its proxies for recent tanker bombings near United Arab Emirates and a rocket attack in Iraq. Source: Associated Press
A senior German diplomat was in Tehran on Thursday for meetings with Iranian officials to try to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and cool rising tensions in the region, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. Source: Reuters
- Iran has recently quadrupled its uranium production, a spokesperson for the nation’s atomic energy agency says.
- The nation has stopped complying with key parts of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
According to a newly adopted law, a foreign country’s national anthem cannot be sung or played in Slovakia unless an official delegation of that state is present. Therefore, singing the Hungarian anthem is now punishable by law. This is significant given that the country harbors half a million Hungarians; in fact, this number is so large that it amounts to eight to nine percent of Slovakia’s total population. Source Hungary Today
Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners registered 1.8 million people seeking protection in 2018. Most of those who had protection status came from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of people registered as seeking protection in Germany increased 6% to 1.8 million people in 2018, the Federal Statistical Office said Thursday. The Central Register of Foreigners recorded an additional 101,600 people seeking protection for humanitarian reasons. The increase was similar to the 5% rise in the previous year. Source Deutsche Welle
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has released details of its recent capturing of a foreign tanker smuggling one million liters of Iranian fuel near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. A local IRGC naval command post published the details in a statement, which was carried by Tasnim News Agency on Thursday. Source PressTV
Agreement comes amid visit to China by DPRK’s top judicial offical. Chinese and North Korean officials at meetings in Beijing on Tuesday agreed to expand legal cooperation exchanges and cooperation, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Source NK News
Pyongyang might end the scheduled working-level negotiations with Washington if a planned joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea happens, the foreign ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned here on Tuesday. Source XinHuaNet
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday Japan’s reported accusations that South Korea had exported banned goods to North Korea posed a “grave challenge” amid a growing dispute over Japanese export curbs. Source Reuters
An Italian investigating judge had lifted the house arrest against the captain of the “Sea-Watch 3”. The public prosecutor’s office has now filed an appeal. Source Zeit Online
Over a round of golf this past weekend, Sen. Rand Paul asked President Donald Trump’s blessing for a sensitive diplomatic mission.
Paul proposed sitting down with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to extend a fresh olive branch on the president’s behalf, according to four U.S. officials. The aim: to reduce tensions between the two countries. Trump signed off on the idea. Source Politico
Five members of the arrest team who arrested Michael P. should be prosecuted. They may have arrested P. too harshly in 2017 following the murder of Anne Faber. That is what the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam has decided. Source AD
China held military drills off the coast of Taiwan as tensions rise between Beijing and Washington over US support for the island that China views as a part of its territory. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced in a statement Sunday that the military exercises off China’s “southeast coast” involved both the navy and the air force, but provided few other details. Source 9 News
Speaking in Genoa, Salvini told media that Italian secret services had alerted him to a Ukrainian group planning an attempt on his life and that he “flagged it up” with the police. “It was one of several death threats against me that arrive every day,” Italy’s ANSA news agency quoted him as saying. He said he was happy the threat had “served to uncover the arsenal of some madmen.” Source RT
The Bank of Korea’s rate cut today is a mere reversal of a 25 basis point hike in November 2018 rather than a real policy stimulus for the economy, which is close to or already in recession. We believe this is just the beginning of the easing cycle. Source ING
Japan logged a goods trade deficit of ¥888.8 billion ($8.2 billion) in the first half of 2019, weighed down by sluggish exports to other Asian countries amid intensifying trade tensions between the United States and China, government data showed Thursday. Source Japan Times
The US deficit is projected to surpass $1tn in 2019, the largest it’s been outside of the four-year period following the Great Recession. Source Independent
- The dollar volume of homes purchased by foreigners from April 2018 through March 2019 dropped 36% from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
- Foreigners bought 183,100 properties with a total value of about $77.9 billion, down from 266,800 properties valued at $121 billion a year earlier.
- “The magnitude of the decline is quite striking, implying less confidence in owning a property in the U.S.,” the Realtors’ chief economist says.
US manufacturing sunk into recession in June after two consecutive quarters of declines amid President Donald Trump’s bitter trade wars, a slowdown in China and other trading partners. Source France 24
In June 2019, new car registrations in the European Union fell by 7.8% to 1,446,183 units. To a large extent, this drop can be attributed to a negative calendar effect. On average, June only counted 19 working days across the EU this year, compared to roughly 21 days in 2018. As a result, the five major EU markets all posted declines, especially France (-8.4%) and Spain (-8.3%). Source ACEAA
Christine Lagarde has stepped down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, saying she now has more clarity on her nomination to be the next head of the European Central Bank. Source Deutsche Welle
German industrial activity is sluggish and recent data point to slower growth in the service sector, the German Economy Ministry said, adding this suggested Europe’s largest economy would experience a weak general economic trend in the second quarter. German industrial activity is sluggish and recent data point to slower growth in the service sector, the German Economy Ministry said, adding this suggested Europe’s largest economy would experience a weak general economic trend in the second quarter.
- China’s quarterly economic growth fell to 6.2%, the slowest pace of expansion since 1993.
- Analysts say a fierce trade dispute with the U.S. is adding to other factors weighing on the country’s expansion.
- President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed late last month to resume talks in hopes of clinching a trade deal.
Source CBS
NAB and ANZ have both cut their savings rates again in the wake of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to reduce the interest rate to one per cent. NAB’s basic savings account now offer just 0.11 per cent interest, and ANZ’s just 0.15 per cent, after they today reduced interest rates by between 0.15 per cent and 0.25 per cent. Source 9 News
Italy wants France and Spain to support its campaign to change the European Union’s fiscal rules and focus them more on growth in the face of a regional and global economic slowdown, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said in remarks published on Friday. Source Reuters
