MINORITY REPORT

2022-04-12 00:48:22 ITALY

MILAN

Italian Premier Mario Draghi secured a deal Monday for more natural gas imports across a Mediterranean pipeline from Algeria, in the latest push by a European Union nation to reduce dependence on Russian energy following its invasion of Ukraine.

Draghi told reporters in the Algerian capital after meeting with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune that an agreement to intensify bilateral cooperation in the energy sector along with the deal to export more gas to Italy “are a significant response to the strategic goal” of quickly replacing Russian energy.

Russia is Italy’s biggest supplier of natural gas, representing 40% of total imports, followed by Algeria, which provides some 21 billion cubic meters of gas via the Trans-Mediterranean pipeline. Open / Comment

2022-04-07 07:02:25 ARGENTINA

One Of The Most Gas-Rich Countries In The World Is Facing An Energy Crisis

A fuel shortage is causing political turmoil and social unrest in Argentina, and could even result in a food shortage as the South American nation’s grain transporters call for a strike in the face of sky-high fuel prices during the harvest season for soy and corn. A blow to Argentinian grain exports would have sweeping consequences both at home and overseas, as the country is a major exporter on a global scale. According to Reuters, “the second quarter of the year is the time when the bulk of soybeans and corn are harvested, which last year recorded exports of close to $30.5 billion, including soy oil and meal shipments.” Open / Comment

2022-04-07 03:10:30 Scientists have discovered a brand-new type of cell hiding inside the delicate, branching passageways of human lungs. The newfound cells play a vital role in keeping the respiratory system functioning properly and could even inspire new treatments to reverse the effects of certain smoking-related diseases, according to a new study.  Open / Comment

2022-04-06 02:37:02 AMAZON

Amazon on Tuesday announced the largest commercial launch deal ever. The company said it has finalized agreements with three different rocket companies for a total of 83 launches. The rockets will deploy a majority of Amazon's low-Earth-orbit constellation of broadband satellites.

With this deal, Amazon has acquired an extraordinary amount of medium- and heavy-lift launch capacity over the next five years, procuring launches from every major Western provider except for its direct satellite competitor, SpaceX. Aside from SpaceX, this purchase represents the vast majority of any "spare" launch capacity for larger rockets in the United States or Europe over the next half-decade. Open / Comment

2022-04-05 08:50:25 HUNGARY

Vladimir Putin has congratulated Hungary’s strongman leader, Viktor Orbán, on his decisive election victory, amid signs that European Union authorities will launch a sanctions process against Budapest that is intended to safeguard EU funds at risk from democratic-backsliding member states.

Two members of the European parliament said they expected the European Commission to launch the “rule of law conditionality mechanism” against Hungary, a legal process that could ultimately switch off billions in EU payments to Budapest.

EU countries that have government-controlled courts and captured state institutions can be deprived of EU funds, but the law has never been tested. Open / Comment

2022-04-04 09:46:09 PAKISTAN

Pakistan PM escapes removal but triggers a constitutional crisis

Imran Khan ducks a no-confidence motion and gets parliament dissolved, but the opposition decides to challenge the move in the Supreme Court. Open / Comment

2022-04-03 12:02:49 All pre-orders will be refunded.

In what must be the most shocking news story of the year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed production of the long-awaited Cybertruck has been canceled. Open / Comment

2022-04-02 02:48:55 ISRAEL

Israel and UAE agree on ‘milestone’ free trade deal

Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv agree free trade agreement that will see 95 percent of customs tariffs dropped.

The talks concluded Friday after four rounds of negotiations, including last month in Egypt between Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the UAE's de facto leader, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement, Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry and the UAE foreign trade minister said.

The UAE and Israel have between $600m and $700m in bilateral trade, UAE’s economy minister Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri said in September.

The UAE and Israel formally established relations in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords that also included Bahrain and Morocco. Open / Comment

2022-04-01 10:51:16 GREECE

Greece has been ramping up its payment schedule as it looks to refresh its image on bond markets after a decade-long financial crisis and has finally paid its last loan to the IMF.

Athens was forced to accept several international bailouts after borrowing on international debt markets became prohibitively expensive.

With the EU’s European Stability Mechanism having earlier confirmed that outstanding loans totalling 1.86 billion euros ($2 billion) can be settled early, waving an obligation for loans to the bloc to be made in parallel, “Greece is going to reimburse (the International Monetary Fund) by the end of April” the outstanding money, the source told AFP.

After enduring a deep crisis from 2009-2019, Greece still has the EU’s highest public debt to GDP ratio.

Official forecasts put the 2022 figure at 189.6 percent of GDP, from 197.1 percent in 2021 and 206.3 percent a year earlier.

Rating agency Fitch revised its forecast for Greece upwards from stable to positive at the start of the year, albeit before the conflict in Ukraine erupted.

It noted a combination of stronger growth than expected and falling debt as pandemic-linked state aid reduces substantially. Open / Comment

2022-03-31 12:15:44 RUSSIA

Private jets linked to Russian oligarchs and officials appeared to continue flying into and out of EU and UK airports despite flight bans and sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Guardian data investigation found.

The investigation, in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), identified and tracked jets linked to sanctioned businesspeople and officials including Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, a former Russian deputy prime minister.

While some plane movements appeared to comply with airspace bans and sanctions, including asset freezes, others appeared to escape restrictions.

Guardian analysis also showed jets linked to Russians under sanctions flew to the United Arab Emirates in greater numbers during the week after the start of the invasion than any other week of 2022.

The UAE is popular with Russians as a finance and leisure centre. Open / Comment