🔹Iran 🇮🇷 has announced the discovery of its first lithium ore deposit amid extensive exploration activity in the country’s metals and mining sector. The deposit contains some 8.5 million MT of lithium ore making it the world's 2nd largest reserve with Chile being the largest with reserves of 9.3 million MT (Chile is the world's 2nd largest producer after Australia).

🔹 Chile's 🇨🇱 lithium producer SQM, posted Q4 net profit more than triple that of a year earlier.

🔹China 🇨🇳 continues clamping down on illegal lithium mining over environmental concerns. This will affect global supplies.

🔹 West Australian 🇦🇺 lithium producer, Bald Hill, faces accusations it has dodged state mining royalties while shifting its profits to China

🔹Russia's 🇷🇺 only lithium producer, TVEL is fulfilling all its foreign lithium supply contracts despite sanctions.

Previous lithium posts on this channel:

💠 Mexican 🇲🇽 President signed a decree handing over responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry.

💠 Canada 🇨🇦 ordered three Chinese companies divest their investments in Canadian lithium & critical minerals.

💠Report on the vast resources needed to be mined for an EV 🚙 which is clearly unsustainable.

💠 Lithium carbonate, hit a new record high in China during September.

💠 Lithium mining pollution and the growing scarcity.

💠 Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 lithium reserves & China investment.

🔹Farmers from Belgium's 🇧🇪 northern region of Flanders drove thousands of tractors into Brussels today, March 3rd, in a protest against a new regional government plan to limit nitrogen emissions. Police estimated the number of tractors 🚜 clogging the streets of Brussels at 2,700. Many were decorated with big signs reflecting the farmers' anger.

🔹Agricultural organisations said in a joint statement that the nitrogen agreement as it now stands "will cause a socio-economic carnage". The planned move to limit emissions in Flanders has caused a crisis within the Flemish regional gov't that was not resolved during 16 hours of talks earlier this week.

🔹The two most significant barriers remaining to the agreement are the so-called external offsetting - whereby a farmer can (partially) take over the emission rights of another farmer if the latter stops or significantly reduces his livestock 🐄 - and the alignment of standards for agriculture & industry.

🔹For the farms previously on the red list, the mandatory closure date would move up to 2026. If the farms concerned make no effort to turn orange, they must close by 2030. The 🇧🇪 Flemish Agriculture minister outlines a framework linked to €1.6 billion in EU 🇪🇺 subsidies in order to close down farms.

🔹Netherlands 🇳🇱 Nature Minister, Christianne van der Wal, said the Netherlands will be forced to choose between agriculture or building new infrastructure if it is to meet its climate targets unless the farming sector cuts nitrogen emissions. The Netherlands is the world’s 2nd-largest agricultural exporter by value after the US 🇺🇸.

🔹Dutch farmers 🚜 are furious after being warned their gov't could take their farms off them unless they step in line with "voluntary" farming measures to hit EU 🇪🇺 pollution targets.

🔹The gov't plans a set target of a possible 41% cut for agriculture by 2030. Since a 2019 supreme court decision, no more permits to emit nitrogen could be issued because the country had breached EU nature protection laws.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Dutch farmers protest end in clashes with police 🚓 & arrests.

💠 The Dutch gov't plans to buy & close down, up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas.

💠 🇳🇱 Farmers Defence Force, representing 8 agro-organisations, (95% of the industry), locked out of the 1st round of negotiations.

💠 Protests previously erupted over the gov't's draconian nitrogen oxides curbing plan.

💠 Gov't policy will result in the destruction of meat/diary farming 🐂 🐄 in The Netherlands.

💠 Dutch 🚜 farmers have been resilient in not backing down.

💠 Netherlands plan to implement CO2 emission social credit scheme.

Video courtesy Big Picture.

🔹Reports reveal that the Nord Stream gas pipelines are set to be sealed up & mothballed as there are no immediate plans to repair or reactivate them. Russia's 🇷🇺 Gazprom has said it is technically possible to repair the ruptured lines, but deteriorating relations with the West is not making such an attempt feasible. Russian stakeholders may be considering conservation.

🔹During a U.N. 🇺🇳 Security Council meeting Denmark 🇩🇰, Germany & Sweden 🇸🇪 said Investigations into explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines have not yet concluded. Russia, has asked the council for an independent inquiry & for Sweden to share it's findings thus far.

🔹Hungary's 🇭🇺FM P. Szijjártó says the UN should give the framework for the investigation into the sabotage of the pipelines.

🔹Famed journalist & Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh's, bombshell article revealing the US 🇺🇸 blew up the pipelines as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise has been labeled a 'conspiracy theory' by western media.

Video courtesy CGTN

🔹USA 🇺🇸- Another Norfolk Southern non-passenger train 🚂 derailed near a highway in the Springfield, Ohio today (March 4th). The derailment occurred near State Route 41 & Gateway Boulevard near the Clark County Fairgrounds.

🔹20 cars 🚃 of a 212-car train derailed. The railway company,Norfolk Southern claim there were no hazardous materials aboard the train, and there were no reported injuries.

🔹Emergency personnel and hazmat crews responded to the train derailment. 1,500 residents are without power 💡 due to downed power lines. The Clark County Emergency Management Agency has issued a shelter-in-place for all residents living near a train derailment.

🔹Exactly one month ago, a train 🚂 carrying over 20 different hazardous chemicals in 150 cars derailed in the village of East Palestine, Ohio.

Video source: rawsalerts Twitter

🔹Exports via a bi-directional pipeline interconnector, which delivers natural gas to mainland Europe from the UK 🇬🇧 through Belgium 🇧🇪, have been shut due to an equipment failure. The interconnector between gas terminals at Bacton in the UK & Zeebrugge in Belgium is halted until March 8th due to an equipment failure at the Bacton Terminal.

🔹Flows from Britain (gas source origin - Norway) already fell last week as a late-winter cold snap boosts the country’s domestic demand for the fuel. The interconnector provides 20 bcm/yr of UK export capacity and 25.5 bcm/year of UK import capacity.

🔹The Dutch TTF natural gas spot price have largely dropped 📉 in 2023, hovering around 45 euros per MWh. This is a huge correction compared to a spike Aug. 2022 when the price crossed 230 euros (high market speculation was at play).

🔹The partial restart of the US 🇺🇸 Freeport LNG 🚢 export terminal has been a factor in correcting natural gas prices. The EU's gas price cap presently set @ 180 euros/MWh is quite pointless at this level. Will this low TTF spot price be reflected in UK/EU domestic energy bills? It is yet to be seen. Levy taxes, carbon emission permit costs, increasing operating costs & market speculation continue to be a driver for higher energy prices despite low natural gas costs at the moment.

🔹Note: Prior to 2022, Europeans were not buying gas from Russia at the TTF spot price, but term contracts which were much cheaper than the spot price.

🔹French 🇫🇷 President E. Macron faced pressure during a joint press conference with the Democratic Republic of Congo's 🇨🇩 President F. Tshisekedi. Macron was also asked whether France will impose sanctions on Rwanda 🇷🇼 for its alleged military support to M23 rebels, and also reminded him of France's "relevant role” in the 1994 Rwandan genocides.

🔹Macron said ‘It is not France's 🇫🇷 fault’. M23 rebels have taken over the province of North Kivu in the DR Congo, causing deadly violence and forcing people to flee on a daily basis. The Congolese gov't accuses Rwanda 🇷🇼 of supporting the M23.

🔹Macron pledged 34 million euros ($36 million) of aid to Congo’s conflict-hit east. Congo 🇨🇩 saw several small-scale protests ahead of Macron’s visit. Congo is not a former French colony, but perceptions of French support for neighbouring Rwanda have stoked anti-French feeling.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Ghana's 🇬🇭 media publishes scathing article against the West's green revolution & its military industrial complex (MIC) which is destroying the Democratic Republic of Congo's 🇨🇩 (DRC) ecosystem. The DRC is responsible for 75% of the cobalt & 50% of the tantalum imported by the US.

Video courtesy Africanews & 2nacheki

🔹German 🇩🇪 politician & former President of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert complaints about Chinese influence in Namibia 🇳🇦 infuriates Namibian President, Hage Geingob.

🔹Angrily and visibly so, he reminds Lammert that the Namibians, for too long have allowed Germans on a “red carpet” to do what they want in Namibia without hindrance and complaint. While Namibia may not allow the Chinese to “come and play around” in Namibia, it troubles him, Geingob said, that it should take Europeans to worry about China in Namibia.

🔹Last week, China's 🇨🇳 new ambassador to Namibia, Zhao Weiping, has expressed his excitement about working with Namibia. A number of high-level Namibian gov't officials were present at the ceremony.

🔹Namibia’s 🇳🇦 PM Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, at the recent Munich Security Conference reiterated Namibia's focus on resolving the Ukraine conflict not on shifting blame. She exposed western hypocrisy by saying, "the money used to buy weapons, could be better utilized to promote development in Ukraine, in Africa, in Asia, in other places, in Europe itself, where many people are experiencing hardships.”

🔹Namibia 🇳🇦 is one of 16 countries that voted to abstain in all 4 UN 🇺🇳 resolutions to condemn Russia 🇷🇺.

🔹Germany announced new feminist guidelines to shape its diplomacy & development work including the creation of a new role for an "ambassador for feminist foreign policy".

🔹It is not a coincidence but an actual incident that the conference that partitioned Africa into countries such as Namibia took place in Germany, 1884-5. The Germans were central interested parties in the colonisation of Africa.

Video courtesy Intel Republic & BR24

🔹French 🇫🇷 unions stepped up their fight against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans today (Mar. 7th). Most trains came to a halt, fuel deliveries were disrupted & schools shut in the sixth day of 2023 with nationwide strikes. Street protests are reportedly happening in over 300 towns & cities.

🔹To increase pressure on lawmakers not to raise the pension age by two years to 64, unions said there would be rolling strikes this time, which could go on for days, including at oil refineries 🏭 and railways. State railway 🚂 operator SNCF warned passengers to cancel or postpone trips, if possible, while Eurostar advised ticket holders to check whether their train is running.

🔹Garbage collectors and truck drivers joined the strike, in a sign the protests were spreading to more sectors. 30% of flights ✈️ were cancelled today & tomorrow as air traffic controllers strike. Some students, including at Rennes 2 University in Brittany, began blockading faculties.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 At least 1.1 million people protested on the streets of 🇫🇷 Paris & other French cities on 19th January amid nationwide strikes.

💠 France's state-owned nuclear operator EDF is considering using funds from depositors in a centuries-old savings account to finance part of a €50bn plan to build six nuclear reactors.

💠 French Finance Minister called for a new European policy to protect the EU's 🇪🇺 industrial base in the face of massive US subsidies.

💠 France issues vouchers for firewood to help families cope as European traders are evading sanctions with fake paperwork claiming Russian🇷🇺/Belarussian 🇧🇾firewood is from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan.

🔹Russia 🇷🇺 started exporting diesel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) 🇸🇦. At least three cargoes carrying 190,000 tons of diesel loaded 🚢 in the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk were headed to the KSA. The Saudis could profitably export part of the Russian diesel to other countries after some refining. Europe imported a 7-year record volume of diesel from the Middle East & Asia last month.

🔹Saudi Aramco raised the official selling price for the crude oil 🛢it exports to Asia & Europe for yet another month. Several new refineries in Saudi Arabia are set to soon begin operating, and this would shrink the amount of crude available for exports.

🔹Saudi Aramco acquires US 🇺🇸 lubricant maker Valvoline for $2.65bn. Saudi Aramco will own the Valvoline brand in connection with its product business, while the US company will retain its brand for its retail services business.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 The KSA’s oil revenues hit $326 billion in 2022, the highest level since Crown Prince MBS’s reign began

💠 The KSA is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar 💵, such as the Chinese yuan.

💠 The KSA leads OPEC+'s 2 million barrels of oil 🛢 per day production cut.

💠 The KSA's 🇸🇦 energy minister warns nations who use emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices.

💠 The KSA imports Russian 🇷🇺 fuel oil to reduce its need to refine crude, resulting in having more unrefined crude to sell on international markets at higher prices.

🔹Russia 🇷🇺 now supplies around 35% of India’s 🇮🇳 total oil imports, it was at 1% before Feb. 2022. India imported around 1.62 million bpd in February from Russia. These record levels are almost the same as India’s imports from Iraq (940,000 bpd) & Saudi Arabia (648,000 bpd) combined.

🔹Indian companies pay on a delivered basis, meaning they don't handle the shipping and insurance. Russia can maximize its profits for the whole transaction in its charges for those extras. Chinese 🇨🇳 purchasers, in contrast, might insist on using their own fleets.

🔹A large amount of Russian oil continues to be transferred between tankers just a few miles off the coast of Spain 🇪🇸 even after Spanish authorities reminded firms of a prohibition on providing fenders for ship-to-ship Russian oil transfers, even in international waters.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Around 70% of Jan. 2023 loading cargoes of Russian Urals was destined to India 🇮🇳.

💠 Russia cuts oil 🛢 production in March by 500,000 bpd.

💠 Indian refiners have begun paying for most of their Russian 🇷🇺 oil purchased via Dubai-based traders in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 Around half of Russian crude is now estimated to be sold via its growing "shadow fleet" 🚢 of off-book tankers.

💠 India buying thirty-three (33) times more 📈 Russian oil than a year earlier.

Video courtesy Sean Foo

🔹The parliamentary majority in Georgia 🇬🇪 has withdrawn a bill on registering ‘foreign agents’ following 2 nights of massive protests in the capital, Tbilisi. Despite the move, the opposition has vowed to continue its protests. If the bill was approved, it would mandate all organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents.

🔹Coincidentally, the US 🇺🇸 Assistant Secretary of State for INLE, Todd Robinson, arrived in Tbilisi the day before protests started & proclaimed that the bill is a "Russian-inspired law" on “foreign agents” & is not in line with the country’s interests to work toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

🔹US 🇺🇸 State Dep't spokesman Ned Price, threatened the Georgian gov't with sanctions for cracking down on the protests. While the EU is currently considering Georgia's application for candidate status, the EU's 🇪🇺 foreign policy chief J. Borrell warned that the bill was "incompatible with EU values and standards".

🔹Either versions of the a 'foreign agents' bill would make it difficult for USAID, NED, George Soro's Open Society Foundation and EU 🇪🇺 backed NGOS to operate in Georgia 🇬🇪. Example: The Shame Movement & Tbilisi Pride, two NGOs promoting LGBT policies in Georgia, receive their funding from the US, UK & the Netherlands.

🔹Today, hundreds of cars (4km long) with both Russian 🇷🇺 & Georgian license plates have lined up outside the Verkhny Lars checkpoint, heading into Russia. (Possibly a mix of those afraid of a 'Maidan 2.0' or those who fled Russia last fall during a partial mobilization.)

🔹Ukraine's 🇺🇦 President V. Zelensky thanked the violent Georgian protestors for playing Ukrainian anthem in their capital Tbilisi.

Video credit to SouthFront Analysis & Intelligence. Support SouthFront @ https://southfront.org/

🔹The US 🇺🇸 will not allow Iran 🇮🇷 to acquire a nuclear weapon, Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, said during a joint press conference with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

🔹Israeli 🇮🇱 PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Washington-based Iran International said, A “horrible nuclear war” will break out if the world does not stop Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons.

🔹5 days ago, the head of the U.N.'s 🇺🇳 nuclear agency said that Iran pledged to restore cameras and other monitoring equipment at its nuclear site and to allow more inspections.

🔹The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran ⚛️ (AEOI) said the West's only option in dealing with Iran is diplomacy.

🔹A majority of members of the US House of Representatives have reportedly declared their support for a bipartisan resolution calling for a nuclear-free ☢️ Iran and regime change in the country. House Resolution 100 is noscriptd “Expressing support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran,..."

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Former Qatari 🇶🇦PM warns that a collapse of international efforts to renew Iran’s 🇮🇷 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) could lead to war in the Gulf region.

💠 US claims to see no progress with the Iran nuclear deal after a video of US President Biden calling the JCPOA “dead” surfaced online.

💠 Ebtesam Al Ketbi, President, Emirates 🇦🇪 Policy Center, on the security threat Iran poses to the region.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹Another European aluminum smelter is closing, in a fresh sign that sanctions on Russia 🇷🇺 exacerbated Europe's energy crisis and pushes Europe into further de-industrialization. Aluminum is one of the most energy intensive metals to produce, & European production capacity has fallen by more than half since the start of the energy crisis.

🔹Despite electricity prices retreating sharply from last year’s peaks, Speira Gmbh will shut its Rheinwork plant in Germany 🇩🇪 this year due to challenges in the energy market. That follows a 50% cut in aluminum production announced in Sept. '22.

🔹Europe is at risk of losing out to the US 🇺🇸 in attracting investment, due to the billions of dollars in subsidies available through the US's Inflation Reduction Act.

🔹The US recently announced tariffs on Russian aluminium, which will significantly increase costs for aluminium that was smelted or cast in Russia to enter the US market. Russia was the sixth largest exporter of aluminium into the US in 2022, behind Canada 🇨🇦 with the biggest share, then UAE 🇦🇪, Bahrain 🇧🇭, China 🇨🇳 and Australia 🇦🇺.

🔹Commodity trader Trafigura Group is in talks to buy aluminum from United Co. 🇷🇺 Rusal International, highlighting its willingness to strike new deals with Russian companies.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Russia's 🇷🇺 Rusal, cautions that suspending its brands in the current low-stocks environment would create increased aluminium price & physical premium volatility.

💠Europe has lost about half of its zinc and aluminum smelting capacity within the past year.

💠 Norwegian 🇳🇴 owned Norsk Hydro is planning to shutter a 175,000-ton annual capacity aluminum smelter in Slovakia.

🔹The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 (KSA) and Iran 🇮🇷 agreed to resume diplomatic ties and re-open embassies within the next two months. The agreement followed months of talks (prior to the past 4 days of negotiations) mediated in China 🇨🇳 between Saudi & Iranian delegations .

🔹Iran and the KSA highlighted the need to respect each others’ national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of one another.

🔹Riyadh and Tehran said they would resume a security cooperation agreement signed in 2001, and would work to enhance “regional and international peace and security.” The official statement did not mention any specific concessions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

🔹Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Yi, said "the success of these talks is the victory of dialogue, the victory of peace, and it brings us major good news in the current turbulent world,"

Preceding developments reported on this channel:

💠 Iranian 🇮🇷 President E. Raeisi visited Beijing last month, with a high-ranking politico-economic delegation.

💠 China's President Xi Jinping visited the KSA 🇸🇦, last month for the Saudi-Chinese Summit & Gulf -China Summit.

💠 China’s 🇨🇳 imports from and exports to the KSA now exceeds the Saudi's combined trade with the US 🇺🇸 & the EU 🇪🇺.

💠 Iran’s Constitutional Council, has approved the bill on Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Video courtesy CNA and TRT World

🔹USA 🇺🇸- The abrupt failure of Silicon Valley Bank 🏦 (SVB) and its takeover by federal regulators today (March 10th) sent a shock wave through the Boston technology & biotech communities, with companies and depositors unable to withdraw funds and facing the prospect of not being able to pay bills or make payroll. Withdrawals was limited to $250,000 per account.

🔹The sudden failure, the second-largest in US history, was triggered by SVB’s disclosure of growing losses on gov't bonds due to rising interest rates 📈. The announcement prompted a run on the bank. As depositors withdrew their savings this week, the bank had to sell Treasury bonds it owned at a loss, eroding its capital.

🔹Customers will get receivership certificates for balances above $250,000 💵 and won’t have immediate access to the funds unless the bank is quickly acquired by a healthy rival. The firm was the bank of startups where venture capital firms turned to finance their endeavors.

🔹The bank ranked 11th largest in Massachusetts, with $5.5 billion of deposits as of June 30, '22. The trouble started this week after SVB said it had lost $1.8 billion on bond investments and was raising a $2.25 billion capital infusion.

🔹The 🇺🇸 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took control and is now the manager of $175 billion in customer deposits.

Video courtesy Fox News

🔹More than 10,000 Dutch 🇳🇱 farmers protested at Zuiderpark in The Hague, Netherlands today (March 11th) against the gov'ts nitrogen policy that will result in many farmers being forced to close down their farms. Hundreds of Dutch farmers 🚜 defied a ban and drove their tractors into The Hague.

🔹The Dutch army was placed on stand-by as farmers headed to The Hague. Army vehicles drive into the center of The Hague to prevent tractors from entering the city. The mayor of The Hague issued an emergency decree granting police extra powers.

🔹Dutch 🇷🇺 politician, Wybren van Haga was present during the protests. He exposed the Netherlands gov't nitrogen policy as an agenda for control. Dutch flags were flown upside down in defiance of the gov't.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Farmers from Belgium 🇧🇪 drove thousands of tractors during protests in Brussels on March 3rd.

💠 Dutch farmers protests end in clashes with police 🚓 & arrests.

💠 The Dutch gov't plans to buy & close down, up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas.

💠 🇳🇱 Farmers Defence Force, representing 8 agro-organisations, (95% of the industry), locked out of the 1st round of negotiations.

💠 Protests previously erupted over the gov't's draconian nitrogen oxides curbing plan.

💠 Gov't policy will result in the destruction of meat/diary farming 🐂 🐄 in The Netherlands.

🔹The EU's 🇪🇺 LNG imports from Russia 🇷🇺 in 2022 rose by 31% and 35% compared to 2020 and 2021 volumes, respectively, despite an 80% drop in pipeline gas imports from Russia one year after the start of the conflict. In 2022, the EU's LNG imports from Russia reached a three-year high of 19.2 billion cubic meters.

🔹The EU's daily fossil fuel imports from Russia remain at €100 million, with pipeline gas accounting for $30 million, & LNG accounting for $10 million.

🔹About 8% of EU pipeline gas imports still come from Russia. Norway 🇳🇴 replaced Russia as Europe’s top pipeline natural gas supplier after the Nord Streams 1 & 2 sabotage. Russia increased its total LNG exports in 2022 by 8.6%. Plans are on the way in Russia for expanding the list of gas fields permitted to export LNG.

🔹EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson urges all EU member states & all companies not to sign new LNG 🚢 contracts with Russia.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 LNG from Russia's Sakhalin 2 accounts for roughly 9% of Japan's 🇯🇵 total LNG imports.

💠 China's 🇨🇳 CNPC, is in the late stages of finalizing a huge long-term LNG import deal with Qatar. China's Sinopec recently signed a 27-year landmark $60 billion agreement for purchases of LNG from Qatar 🇶🇦.

💠 Head of the EU 🇪🇺Energy Regulator admits, the EU’s price cap is an untested tool that may not work as intended to prevent gas price spikes. "The gas price cap is “a difficult creature, it’s unprecedented, it’s untested”.

🔹Thousands of Czechs 🇨🇿 took part today (March 12th), in anti-gov't protests in Prague, Czech Republic (Czechia). A new political party, PRO, organised the rallies, as people protested against high inflation rates & the gov't’s assistance to Ukraine 🇺🇦. The party expressed its opposition to NATO. Some called for a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, while others called for an end to the military assistance the Czech gov't has provided to Ukraine.

🔹Police detained 18 persons. Czechia has been struggling with record levels of inflation for a year, mainly due to a spike in energy prices. In February, annual inflation in the EU 🇪🇺 & NATO member of 10.5 million people reached 16.7%. Critics accuse the gov't of caring more about Ukraine.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Czechia is concerned over any possible EU sanctions on the Druzbha oil 🛢pipeline from Russia that supplies the country.

💠 Despite being able to produce much of its own food, Czechia 🇨🇿 is still seeing a dramatic increase in food prices. 📈 Rising energy prices is only part of the problem because a substantial amount of domestically produced food is exported to the EU & abroad.

💠 Tens of thousands of Czechs protested in Prague, (Oct '22), to demand a neutral foreign policy & resume purchases of Russian 🇷🇺 natural gas.

💠 Czechia protests grow, (Sep '22) over the ongoing energy 🔌 crisis.

💠 Over 70,000 Czech protestors, (Sep '22) demand the gov't take a neutral stand on Russia-Ukraine.

Video courtesy Press TV

🔹Over the past 2 days, Mar. 11th-12th, protests across France 🇫🇷 has been increasingly violent as protestors pushed for a withdrawal of President E. Macron's pension reform plan, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. Police 🚓 clashed with rioters dressed in black who set fires to piles of trash.

🔹Today, the French Senate 🏛 adopted the reform bill with a 195-112 vote. A commission is then to elaborate a final version of the draft law which will be submitted to both houses of parliament for a final vote.

🔹Protests were bolstered by ongoing strikes in key sectors, from energy to transport and garbage workers. Uncollected trash piled up in Paris and other cities.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 French unions stepped up protests and strikes against pension reform plans on Mar. 7th.

💠 At least 1.1 million people protested on the streets of 🇫🇷 Paris & other French cities on 19th January amid nationwide strikes.

💠 France's state-owned nuclear operator EDF is considering using funds from depositors in a centuries-old savings account to finance part of a €50bn plan to build six nuclear reactors.

💠 French Finance Minister called for a new European policy to protect the EU's 🇪🇺 industrial base in the face of massive US subsidies.

💠 France issues vouchers for firewood to help families cope as European traders are evading sanctions with fake paperwork claiming Russian🇷🇺/Belarussian 🇧🇾firewood is from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan.

🔹Belarusian 🇧🇾 President A. Lukashenko and Iranian 🇮🇷 President E. Raisi, today (Mar. 13th), signed a roadmap of comprehensive cooperation between the countries for 2023-2026 following President Lukashenko's state visit in Tehran. The roadmap provides for comprehensive cooperation between Belarus and Iran in the political, economic, consular, scientific and technological avenues and other areas.

🔹President Raisi said, "despite the threats and sanctions that are used against the Islamic Republic of Iran, we have been able to achieve high results and transform sanctions into opportunities. We are ready to share our experience with the friendly Belarus in this regard".

🔹President Lukashenko in a meeting with First Vice-President M. Mokhber, expressed his willingness on setting up joint high-tech manufacturing facilities. Both countries saw a significant progress in bilateral trade for 2022, which was a three-fold increase 📈 over 2021.

🔹Belarus increased exports of timber 🪵 to Iran by 2.3 times in 2022. Both presidents visited an exhibition of Iran's healthcare products & advanced scientific solutions.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Iran’s Constitutional Council, approved Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Belarus is ready to expedite the fulfillment of international legal procedures for joining the SCO as a full member.

💠 Iran 🇮🇷 transport officials & the EAEU Trade Council, expressed willingness over launching rail transit across Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬, Russia 🇷🇺, Belarus 🇧🇾.

💠 Iran & Belarus work towards integrating with Russian payment system MIR.