🇵🇱🇪🇺 Poland gets the EU to admit that the right to asylum can be denied if a security risk can be proven!

EU leaders on Thursday rallied behind Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s threat to temporarily ban asylum for those coming from Russia or Belarus, warning Moscow not to weaponize migrant flows to destabilize European countries.

“Russia and Belarus, or any other country, cannot be allowed to abuse our values, including the right to asylum, and to undermine our democracies,” read a statement from the European Union’s 27 leaders following their meeting in Brussels.

The statement was a win for Tusk, who last week announced that Poland would temporarily suspend asylum rights for migrants headed to his country via its border with Belarus. The influx, he said, had been orchestrated by Russia as part of “hybrid warfare” tactics designed to destabilize Poland.

“Exceptional situations require appropriate measures,” the statement went on.

Tusk wanted the EU to back the idea that a country can invoke security reasons as justification for suspending asylum rights — and he got it.

“I have just come from a meeting with all the most important leaders and what I wanted to achieve, I achieved,” Tusk told journalists.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-prime-minister-donald-tusk-eu-asylum-ban-russia-belarus-migration-security/

🇵🇱🤝🏳️‍🌈 Poland's Donald Tusk plans to legalise civil partnerships soon which would act as a de-facto recognition of gay marriage.

🔗 https://www.pap.pl/en/news/bills-introducing-same-sex-civil-partnerships-poland-govt-agenda

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — Cuban netizens report a nationwide energy blackout, as the power grid of the Socialist nation once again faults

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 🖥 Network data show a significant decline in internet traffic in Cuba; the incident is attributed a power outage due to the shutdown of Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant per the Ministry of Energy.

NetBlocks (@netblocks) 🖇

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 🖥 A complete disconnection of the national electricity system has resulted in a significant Internet disruption in Cuba. Starting just after 11:00 local (15:00 UTC), traffic dropped by nearly two-thirds.

Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) 🖇

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 📺 The Cuban regime confirms on national television the total disconnection of the island. The energy crisis has reached a new level of chaos, leaving Cuba completely in darkness.

🇵🇪🇨🇳 Peru's Chinese-built mega port to soft launch in late November with Shanghai route

LIMA (Reuters) -Peru's massive Chancay port, which authorities hope will become a major shipping hub for South America-Asia trade, will ship two container ships a week beginning late next month, an executive for port operator Cosco Shipping said on Friday.

After the port's inauguration in mid-November, it will initially cover a direct route to Shanghai and then may ship to other points in the Asian market, depending on demand, said Carlos Tejada, general manager of Hong Kong-based Cosco's local subsidiary, Cosco Shipping Chancay Peru.

"At the end of November, we will begin the stage known as 'test conditioning,' which we expect to run until May. However, during this soft launch phase, we can already handle actual cargo, with two direct vessels per week," the executive told reporters following a Peruvian-Chinese business forum.

Tejada said that cabotage routes will be opened with smaller ships from Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, whose cargo will later be shipped to Asia from Chancay, initially in ships carrying up to 14,000 containers, which will then be progressively increased to larger vessels holding up to 24,000 containers.

Cosco Shipping Ports owns and will operate the port with a 60% stake, with the remaining 40% held by Peruvian miner Volcan, which is controlled by Glencore.

🔗 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perus-chinese-built-mega-port-204226930.html?guccounter=1

💰Unrealized losses at US banks 7 times higher than during 2008 financial crisis.

📎 AF Post

🔗 PDF

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 🛩 The José Martí International Airport in Havana went dark amid the massive blackout affecting all of Cuba. Despite images showing the terminal without power, the regime claims that planes can land without issues thanks to backup power generators.

🇨🇺🙌 — Have you ever imagined being on an island under a dictatorial regime, without electricity, and with monthly rationing of water, fuel, and food? That's life in Cuba.

🇱🇧❌🇮🇱 — Arab media says that indeed one of the UAVs launched from Lebanon hit Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private home in Caeserea

➡️ According to Al-Arabiya, Netanyahu's office confirmed that Caesarea drone targeted his home and he was not present

https://fxtwitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/1847534596008693887

🇷🇺🇧🇷📝 — Russian President Vladimir Putin rules out attending G20 summit after Ukraine asks Brazil to arrest him, reports G1

➡️ Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will not attend the G20 summit in a month's time on Friday (18).

➡️ Four days after Ukraine's prosecutor general asked Brazilian authorities to comply with the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March 2023 if he attended the event, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19, Putin ruled out his participation:

"My possible visit would harm the work of the G20. Let's find out who will represent Russia."

➡️ Despite the ruling, the Russian president maintained the Kremlin's official position and stated that he does not recognize the International Criminal Court. He also said that Russia has "good relations with Brazil" and an agreement could be signed to "circumvent the verdict" since "such verdicts are easy to ignore."

🔗 Link

🇪🇺❌💰 Europe seems to be preparing a war on Bitcoiners: higher cap gains on BTC in Italy, a proposed exit tax in The Netherlands, no mortgage in the UK if you made the money for your real estate in crypto (personal experience!), and now the ECB is telling no-coiners that Bitcoiners are keeping them poor. That last one is truly unbelievable: the early adopters were simply smarter (or spent more time on it) and willing to take more risk. Now they are getting villified for that. Very dangerous that these are words from the ECB, it sounds more like the communist Chinese Central Bank to me.

The Overton window is quickly shifting against Bitcoiners (and against wealthy people in general). I have heard from a number of people in The Netherlands who hold Bitcoin that they are getting a bit worried about the changing regulations. If Bitcoin should double or triple in 2025 I would not be surprised to see more politicians turning against BTC and trying to tax it excessively. Be prepared!

https://x.com/marcvanderchijs/status/1847630643766972887

@FelipeChannel

🇷🇺❌🇰🇿 Russia bans fruit and veg from Kazakhstan after country refuses to join BRICS

Russian agriculture safety watchdog this week temporarily banned imports of tomatoes, peppers, fresh melons, wheat, flax seeds and lentils from Kazakhstan.

“The decision was made due to the failure of competent authorities in Kazakhstan to take action and in order to ensure the phytosanitary safety of the territory of Russia,” the Rosselkhoznadzor authority said on its website.

The restrictive measure comes shortly after Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, refused to join BRICS.

“At present and most likely in the foreseeable future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting an application to BRICS,” the Kazakh president’s spokesperson, Berik Uali, said in an interview with local news on Wednesday.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-bans-vegetables-from-kazakhstan-after-country-refuses-to-join-brics/

🇪🇺🔋 EU car sales at 3-year low in August, EV sales plunge 44%

New car sales in the European Union fell 18.3% in August to their lowest in three years, dragged down by double-digit losses in major markets Germany, France and Italy and sliding electric vehicle (EV) sales, auto industry body data showed on Thursday.

The data showed the fourth consecutive monthly drop in EV sales, prompting the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) to demand "urgent action" to prevent further decline.

Car manufacturers ask that the EU cut back on CO2 emissions targets for vehicles as EVs collapse in popularity. Registrations of plug-in electric cars meanwhile fell 22.3% in the 27-member bloc.

Sales at Europe's three largest carmakers Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), opens new tab, Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab and Renault (RENA.PA), opens new tab fell from a year earlier, by 14.8%, 29.5% and 13.9%, respectively.

Car sales in Europe are below pre-COVID-19 levels and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), opens new tab said in September the trend could continue for the foreseeable future.

Sales at EV maker Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab fell 43.2% in August, and those for China's SAIC Motor (600104.SS), opens new tab were down 27.5%.

The shrinking EV sales are partly because of diverging policies on green incentives across the EU, while regulators have imposed hefty tariffs to try to keep out cheap Chinese EVs, potentially adding to purchase prices.

To try to revive the market, Germany agreed in September on tax deductions of up to 40% for companies on their EV sales.

Campaign group Transport & Environment, however, said the market will recover, predicting battery electric cars will reach a total market share of between 20% and 24% by 2025 in the EU, mostly because of lower selling prices.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/eu-car-sales-3-year-low-august-ev-sales-down-439-acea-says-2024-09-19/

🇩🇪 Volkswagen denies plans to cut 30,000 staff from its workforce but wants to end a three-decade-old job protection pledge that would have banned layoffs until 2029.

Manager Magazin reported that the car maker was looking at axing the jobs over the medium term. It said CFO Arno Antlitz was also planning to cut funding for investments over the next five years to €160bn.

That is a cut of €10bn from an earlier VW announcement that its medium-term planning target between 2025 and 2029 would be €170bn.

Analysts at Jefferies investment bank had suggested VW was considering the closure of between two and three plants, potentially putting up to five German sites at risk and threatening 15,000 jobs.

🔗 https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/09/20/volkswagen-denies-plans-to-cut-30000-staff-from-its-workforce