Tag: Angela Merkel

When President Donald Trump announced last year that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, other world leaders pledged that they would not slow their own efforts down. Several key countries are not meeting the commitments they laid out to reduce emissions even before the Paris Agreement was negotiated, heightening concerns about ongoing negotiations on how to implement the global climate pact. It’s stalled,” Brown tells TIME. And countries aren’t even living up those promises. The report was intended to galvanize countries into action, but progress has remained stagnant since then. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to forge ahead with national carbon pricing has received pushback that threatens its survival, not to mention his own political chances in his reelection campaign next year. Some leaders at the E.U. Climate Change program. A coalition of U.S. cities, states and businesses that formed in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull out of Paris has sought to make up the lost ground with their own emissions reductions programs, and a report released Wednesday in San Francisco shows the group’s current policies cutting U.S. emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2025. A variety of debates have emerged among leaders here in San Francisco over a slew of different plans intended to address the intricacies of climate change — from the best policy mechanism to reduce emissions in the U.S. to the effect warming will have on our health care systems and everything in between.

A new left-right populist government has taken power in Rome, fueled by popular anger over illegal immigration and adept in its use of social media. The M5S/Lega, as it’s known, wants debt forgiveness and new spending as the price for Italy remaining within the eurozone. As with the decadent Italy of 170 years ago (and also today), in the United States, celebrity has come to play an increasingly important role in public life. After more than a hundred years of foreign occupation and war, China emerged a strong, centralized, and authoritarian state during the 20th century. In 1866, for example, the National Bank suspended convertibility of the Italian lira due to “the impending Austro-Prussian War.” Italy saw a serious banking crisis in the 1880s, then a real estate boom and bust and a tariff war with France in the 1890s. The fascists took control of Rome in 1922 and Benito Mussolini was named prime minister. This was all the more remarkable given that the cold war had frozen Italian politics; the presence of the largest Communist Party in Western Europe had prevented the normal alternation of left and right governments. In Rome, we have a coalition government between a southern party led by a former comedian, Beppe Grillo, who virtually overnight and via social media constructed one of the largest political movements ever seen in Western Europe, and a far-right northern party that is hostile to the EU and immigrants, and once advocated the secession of the northern regions of Italy. If you think this sounds like a replay of the Italian politics of 500 or even 1,000 years ago, you are correct. He is the author of three books, including Ford Men: From Inspiration to Enterprise (2017) and Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream (2010).

There has been no shortage of conflict between Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have locked horns over trade, Iran, Israel's capital Jerusalem and NATO. German politicians have lashed out at the Trump administration over the past few weeks, criticizing, in particular, the president’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. Trump will not change that, either. (Getty) In a recent interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Maas’ Social Democratic colleague, Niels Annen, called for direct intervention in U.S. politics beyond the White House, urging the explicit lobbying of governors, congressmen and senators as a means of benefiting German trade policy. Ambassador to Germany, said in an interview with Breitbart last month that he wants to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe.” Grenell, a former Fox News contributor and a fierce opponent of Iran's bellicose policies, has urged Germany to wind down its business with Iran and bar Iran's Mahan Air from entering German airspace. “It is in the interest of all of our allies to comply with the American sanctions against Iran, including and especially those which were passed into law by successive American Congresses and have been affirmed by successive American presidents,” Cruz said. In addition to being the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and a nuclear proliferator, the Iranian regime is directly complicit in the Syrian tragedy—the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.” Senators Cruz and Rubio, along with eight additional Republican senators, sent a letter on Thursday to the ambassadors of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, urging their governments to not evade or subvert US sanctions that will be re-imposed on Iran. In the letter obtained by FoxNews.com, the senators stated to the major European powers: "We write to urge you to comply with all American sanctions but also to emphasize we would find it particularly troubling if you sought to evade or undermine American statutes," adding that "These laws were passed by Congress, signed by President Obama and will be enforced by President Trump." When asked about the criticism of Senators Rubio and Cruz, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said: "Regardless of whom President Trump describes as a foe, I do not see the U.S. as an opponent, but rather as our most important partner and ally outside the E.U." The state of Bavaria's intelligence report concluded that Iran's regime is working to turn its conventional military weapons into a system for weapons of mass destruction.

Figure 1: ECB 2010 Rate Hikes Delayed Europe's Recovery for Four Years but it's Now Underway. Eurozone inflation remains extremely low, with core inflation nearly a point and a half below that of the U.S. (Figure 7). This implies that the ECB can probably wait at least 12-18 months before raising rates. On a similar note, Draghi will almost certainly bring QE to an end before leaving the ECB in October 2019. The Power of the Bond Market and the Syrizification of the Europe One major risk to our dovish forecast for the ECB would be a dramatic fiscal deterioration in Europe owing to widespread tax cuts or spending increases. Moreover, some policy normalization, such as an end to QE and to negative interest rates, might actually boost bank profits without hurting Europe's borrowers. Political concerns in Europe from Brexit to the stability of the governing coalitions of Germany, Italy and Spain are also pulling the euro lower. Europe's fiscal position continues to improve while U.S. budget deficits explode. When it comes to bonds, continued growth in the eurozone, the likelihood that Italian and German politics won't, in the end, spiral out of control, and an end to QE, could put a bearish tilt on the EU's bond markets. Bottom Line Key European countries are governed by fragile coalition governments Populist governments will likely moderate once in power European economic indicators continue to improve Many European nations are achieving a dramatic post-crisis deleveraging Public sector finances continue to improve European banks may have challenges, but bank failures are unlikely with zero rates EURUSD remains caught in a fiscal versus monetary policy tug-of-war If investors focus on Europe's growth, Eurozone fixed income could sell off to the detriment of U.S. Treasuries

BRUSSELS (The Borowitz Report)—The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, took a break from the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday to ask the independent counsel, Robert Mueller, if there is anything she can do to help. According to those familiar with the phone conversation, Merkel told Mueller that she would take a leave of absence as leader of the German government and move to Washington to work full-time for Mueller “if that would be of assistance.” Touting her credentials, Merkel told Mueller that she was fluent in Russian and could be helpful in translating the thousands of Russian-language documents that the special counsel has in his collection of evidence. “I will work for free and pay my for my own food,” Merkel said. “I just want to make this stop.” Mueller reportedly thanked Merkel for her offer but told her he had to wrap up their conversation because he had “Emmanuel Macron on the other line.”

President Trump suggests that new natural gas pipeline will result in Moscow controlling Berlin; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports from Brussels. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well…

A tense meeting between British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ended abruptly after a frustrated May broke out a ‘two world wars and one world cup’ chant. The leaders were due to discuss Britain’s impending exit from the EU as well as future German investment in Britain. However, the meeting got off to an acrimonious start when May mentioned Germany’s exit from the 2018 World Cup. ‘Britain could certainly use some German advice on a quick and easy exit strategy,’ May is reported to have said. With May under increasing pressure – from both internal and external sources – some believe she might just have snapped completely when she busted out the ‘two world wars and one world cup’ chant. ‘The meeting was not going well and tensions were rising. I never expected Mrs May to jump on the table and start chanting like she was at a football match though,’ said one attending staffer. Since news of the meeting broke on BBC, Theresa May’s popularity has skyrocketed to an all-time high. There are now rumblings she intends to hold a snap election in a month’s time.

But is the crisis really over? The superficial explanation for the crisis is that the C.S.U., facing state elections in October, wanted to shore up its conservative base against the far-right Alternative for Germany party, known by its German initials A.f.D. But this crisis is about much more than that. According to the Dublin Convention, which regulates which country is responsible for examining an asylum seeker’s plea for protection, the first country a migrant enters is in charge. However, many migrants don’t stay in those countries but move on to the north of Europe. According to figures by the German Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees, only about a quarter of those applying for asylum in Germany in 2018 are already registered in another European country. In a sane and sound political system, threats to blow up governments and force new elections are reserved for the truly momentous disputes; small things are resolved through compromise. On the political level, however, the strategy worked. The result is not a true “European” fix, as the chancellor claims, but a jury-rigged workaround: more external border controls for Germany, and bilateral agreements between Germany and some countries of first entry to take back secondary migrants. So whatever deal is sealed this week, the political crisis over refugees is not over.

(For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon news window) LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - European shares opened lower on Monday as on-going worries about the U.S. trade policies and concerns about German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition weighed on sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down about 1.2 percent by 0730 GMT in line with Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent and British gambling technology company Playtech posted the worst performance, losing over 20 percent after it disappointed investors with a trading update. Among rare winners, British software company Micro Focus International was up 3.3 percent after it said it had agreed to sell its Linux operating system SUSE business to a private equity fund advised by Sweden’s EQT Partners for $2.535 billion. In the mid-cap segment of the market, Vedanta Resources surged over 25 percent after chairman Anil Agarwal’s family trust agreed to a deal that values the mining conglomerate at 2.3 billion pounds. Milan’s FTSE MIB was down 1.9 percent with Italian pharmaceutical group Recordati falling over 15 percent after a consortium of investment funds controlled by CVC Capital Partners has agreed to buy a stake at a discount. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Fox News contributor Nigel Farage discusses Germany's immigration crisis on 'Fox & Friends First.' FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network…