At least two countries-founders of the EU - France and Italy - are ready to block postponement of Brexit at the community summit on March 21-22, if they do not receive guarantees that this delay will allow for an organized exit, the European diplomatic source said. "France and Italy are ready to block extension of the Brexit deadline at the EU summit if they receive no guarantees that this...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan certainly did not expect the first in ten years recession to come on the eve of very important municipal elections, which will be held at the very end of March. Well he probably should have been more prepared, because the problems in the Turkish economy did not begin just yesterday. Annual GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased by 2.4% compared with the...

Government of New Zealand has decided to revise the national legislation governing arms sale in the country, reports The New Zeland Herald, with reference to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. According to her, "the Cabinet of Ministers has already decided that the law will be revised in the direction of tightening." The bill will be published in 10 days. Its details have not yet...

Leader of the German Christian Democrats revealed her vision of the future of Europe. It turned out that “German” Europe is different from “French”. Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has published a program of European reforms of the ruling party in Germany. A few days earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron described his vision of the future of a united Europe....

EU finance ministers added 10 more countries to the list of tax havens which tax standards do not meet EU requirements, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Thus, the black list includes 15 jurisdictions that "either could not fulfill their obligations to meet the necessary criteria, or even did not take on such obligations," said Pierre Moscovici, economic and financial commissioner. The...

Large investors are promoting deals in Saudi Arabia and investing in the country's stock market. Meanwhile, the kingdom is trying to recover from a scandal associated with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, says Reuters. Murder of the journalist in October undermined the kingdom’s ties with its Western allies. Now Riyadh seeks to restore its image. Saudi Arabia needs to attract...

Problems with energy supply in Venezuela resulted in a sharp drop in oil production, reports Bloomberg, citing a high-ranking source in the country's oil ministry. According to the source, production has been completely suspended in some parts of the country, and oil wells are closed because the industry is directly dependent on energy supply. He did not go into details regarding level of...

The Chinese aviation department will ask Boeing and US authorities to take measures to ensure flight safety on 737 Max 8 liners. After the crash of Ethiopian Airlines, which operated the ET 302/10 Addis Ababa-Nairobi flight, the Beijing aviation department imposed a temporary ban on Chinese airlines using the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. At the same time, the agency referred to another disaster...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB, the central bank of the country) presented a new bill of 1,000 francs. The banknote will become the most expensive one in Europe and the second most valuable in the world (after a 10 thousand Brunei dollar bill). The bill, which will go into circulation on March 13, is made in purple color scheme using polymer fibers, like other banknotes of the new, ninth series....