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
Pivot Countries
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.
Saudi Arabia’s 200 billion-riyal ($53 billion) lifeline to its non-oil economy may be in place for longer than planned as the kingdom supports industries struggling to cope with reforms that pushed up costs and dampened demand. Source: The Star
Saudi Arabia said two of its oil tankers had been sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in attacks it said posed a threat to shipping and the security of global oil supplies. Source: CNN
urkey’s plan to clean up some $13 billion in bad energy loans, one of the worst hangovers from last year’s currency crisis, is taking shape even as some banks hold out for the government to agree to safeguards and higher electricity prices. Source: Reuters
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
The governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced on Tuesday they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates, just one day after the CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants. Source NBCNews
Greek media reported that Egypt’s announcement of holding a tender for hydrocarbon exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean by recognizing the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) demarcated by Turkey could be a sign of a possible agreement between Ankara and Cairo on the issue. Source Daily Sabah
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
