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Europe
Hungary
November 28, 2024 Yesterday, Hungary’s currency forint weakened further, the EUR/HUF hit a two-year low, quoted at just below 413 after the close of the interbank market. The currency has lost 8% of its value against the euro and 13% against the dollar year-to-date. Hungary's export-oriented economy has benefited from the weaker currency over the past decade. The forint’s decline has increased the appeal of the euro and brought the question of the euro adoption. In the early 2000s, there was broad agreement that Hungary should take steps to join the eurozone. Last year, Monetary Council member Pleschinger said the country may be able to adopt the currency in the 2030s. More people are converting their savings into euros or pricing transactions in foreign currency, particularly in the real estate market, where a significant number of investment-oriented purchases are by foreign buyers. Hungary's GDP adjusted to purchasing power parity was around 76% of the EU average in 2023, and now the country does not meet the Maastricht criteria to adopt the euro either. The Orbán government has consistently opposed euro adoption, citing concerns over the loss of national sovereignty. The MNB has maintained real interest rates at the highest levels in the region. This stance has faced criticism from government officials. MNB Governor Matolcsy's mandate ends in March. „Finance Minister Varga is expected to succeed him”. ’A government reshuffle will merge the finance and economy ministries into a single development-focused entity’. Analysts caution that a more dovish approach under the new MNB leadership could intensify pressure on the forint, particularly if aggressive monetary easing is pursued. (Source: bneIntelli News – Germany)
by Csonka
Romania
November 28, 2024 The Constitutional Court in Bucharest said in a statement today that it had unanimously ordered the reverification and recounting of the voting ballots for the November 24 presidential election. The court said the decision was final. 'Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right independent candidate is set to face off against center-right Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favorite leftist Prime Minister Ciolacu'. (Source: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty – U.S.)
Russia
1:27 pm, November 28, 2024 Russia’s new Oreshnik ballistic missile could target decision-making centers in Kyiv, Russian President Putin said, speaking at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Kazakhstan today. He warned that Russia will continue combat testing the missile, in response to strikes by Ukraine using long-range Western-made missiles in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions. The Russian Defense Ministry and General Staff are currently selecting targets for Oreshnik strikes in Ukraine, Putin said. The Russian leader also said the new missile is capable of striking well-protected targets located deep in Ukraine. In a massive attack using multiple Oreshniks, the power of the strike would be comparable to the use of nuclear weapons, he claimed. Oreshnik is not a weapon of mass destruction as its use without a nuclear warhead does not lead to radioactive contamination, Putin added. The temperature of the striking elements reaches 4,000 degrees Celsius. This means that everything in the explosion’s epicenter is broken down into fractions, into elementary particles, essentially turning into dust, according him. Russia has multiple Oreshnik missiles ready for use. He also announced that serial production of the missiles has already begun, although he was reported to have ordered such production just days ago. He claimed that Russia produces 10 times more missiles than all NATO countries combined and that its missile production will increase by 25–30 percent next year. (Source: Meduza - Headquartered in Riga, Latvia)
Ukraine
Thursday 28 November 2024 at 9:33am Russia has launched a massive missile and drone attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure today. Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk, and many other cities in central and western Ukraine. Over 280,000 households in the northwestern Rivne region are currently without electricity because of the attack. On the bordering Volyn region 215,000 households have no electricity. 'All critical infrastructure that lost power has been switched to generators". Local officials ordered the opening of the “points of invincibility” - shelter-type places where people can charge their phones and other devices and get refreshments during blackouts. In Kyiv the air raid alert lasted over nine hours. No casualties were reported. (Source: ITV – United Kingdom)
28.11.2024 Ukraine says massive Russian missile attack targeted the energy sector. Strikes on energy facilities are happening across Ukraine, Energy Minister Halushchenko said. The country’s power grid operator Ukrenergo implemented emergency power cuts which have affected Kyiv, as well as the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions. Power outages were also reported by local authorities across multiple regions of Ukraine, including Lviv, Rivne, and Volyn. Ukraine’s national railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said that more than 150 of its trains are running on schedule despite the missile strikes, which it said resulted in power cuts in certain sections of the country’s railway system. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Asia
Gaza
28 November 2024 Israel building new military dividing line across Gaza. This partition stretches about 9km across Gaza, from east to west, dividing Gaza City and the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in north Gaza, separating off the far north of the strip. Satellite images show that hundreds of buildings have been demolished between the Mediterranean sea and the Israel border. Videos filmed by the IDF and posted online show several multi-storey buildings being destroyed in controlled explosions since the beginning of October. Images also show Israeli vehicles have been stationed across the new divide indicating that Israeli troops are in control of the area. The images suggest Gaza is being split into zones to make it easier to control. Dr Hellyer, a Middle East security expert from the Rusi think tank, said the satellite images suggested Israel was preparing to block Palestinian civilians from returning to the north Gaza governorate. More than 100,000 people have already been displaced from the far north of Gaza, according to the UN. An IDF spokesperson told that it had no intention of destroying civilian infrastructure without operational necessity to neutralise Hamas. Some analysts believe the IDF’s presence could indicate a permanent military partition – giving it control of who can travel between the Gaza and the north Gaza governorates. Two partitions have been constructed in Gaza since the start of the current war. The Netzarim Corridor - completed in May - splits area south of Gaza City, while the Philadelphi Corridor gives the IDF control of land running the length of Gaza’s border with Egypt. Buildings and agricultural land are cleared so roads can be paved and military infrastructure built, military positions emerging at regular intervals. Dr Hecht from the Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (Besa), an Israeli think tank specialising in national security and foreign policy, agreed that the data showed a new dividing line, but questioned whether it was designed to be permanent. 'There is a new partition corridor separating Gaza City and the northern towns of the Gaza Strip. The goal is to cut off the Hamas - and other organizations' - forces that have returned to that area from support and the ability to retreat, so they can be dealt with more effectively.” Israel has denied that it is implementing the "General’s Plan". Under the strategy, devised by former general EIland, civilians would be told to leave the north, supplies would be blocked and the area would become a military zone. Those who remained would be treated as combatants and faced with the choice of surrender or starve", with aim of putting pressure on Hamas to release its hostages. The claim that the IDF is implementing this specific plan is incorrect, an IDF spokesperson said. The UN and aid charities have raised significant concerns about the situation in the north of Gaza - up to 60,000 people could remain in the area. The UN also says that virtually no aid has entered the North Gaza governorate in 50 days. Palestinians were facing critical shortages of supplies and services, as well as severe overcrowding and poor hygiene conditions due to the blockade. Around 90% of north Gaza has been subject to evacuation orders since the start of October, people being moved south of the new partition. Israel’s foreign minister has insisted civilians will be allowed to return after the war. Heavy fighting has also persisted in the area. Videos posted by Hamas fighters show clashes with IDF tanks in the area around the dividing line. Dr Hellyer suggested that the new partition could form the basis of plan to expel Palestinians from the area permanently. ’Personally I think they're going to settle Jewish settlers in the north, probably in the next 18 months,’ he said. ’To begin with they'll call them outposts or whatever, but that's what they'll be and they'll grow from there.’ "All three corridors (Philadelphi in the south, Netzarim just south of Gaza City and the new one just north of Gaza City) are for control purposes," Dr Hecht said. "The duration of their existence depends on when the war ends and in what manner it ends.” (Source: BBC – United Kingdom)
28 November, 2024 9:31 AM Israeli strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians in Gaza today, medics reported, as bombardments intensified and tanks advanced in the enclave's north and south. "Lebanon ceasefire holds' - 'Israeli tank fire hit three towns along Lebanon's southeast border with Israel' today; tank fire struck Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, all of which lie within two kilometres of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel). (Source: The New Arab - headquartered in London, awned by a Qatary company)
Kazakhstan
14:09, 28 November 2024 | GMT +6 The joint sitting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Defense Ministers and Committee of the Secretaries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) Collective Security Council was held in the Kazakh capital. The sitting took place today, November 28, in Astana under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. Those present focused on the military and political situation in the CSTO Collective Security regions and CSTO activities in the inter-sessional period. Special attention was paid to the international agenda. They also shared views on the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Following the talks, they approved the draft documents to be submitted to the CSTO Collective Security Council, including the CSTO Declaration, Statement of the Collective Security Council and Action Plan on the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the 'World Patriotic War'. (Source: Kazinform - Kazakhstan)
Syria
28 November, 2024 More than 130 dead in army-rebel clashes between the Syrian army and fighters of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) along with allied factions in the country's northwest province of Aleppo. The toll has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS, 18 from allied factions "and 49 members of regime forces, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. The armed groups have launched a large-scale attack on areas controlled by government forces, the Observatory said. The factions were trying to cut the Aleppo-Damascus international highway. HTS, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, controls swathes of much of the northwest Idlib area and slivers of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. Russian warplanes intensified air strikes, targeting areas in Idlib province. The Idlib region is subject to a ceasefire - repeatedly violated but still largely holding - brokered by Turkey and Damascus ally Russia after a Syrian government offensive in March 2020. Syria's conflict broke out in 2011, drawing in foreign armies and armed groups. It has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry. (Source: The New Arab - Headquartered in London, owned by a Qatary company)
North America
United States
28.11.2024 Trump says Mexican president has agreed to stop migration into US through Mexico. ‘We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,’ Mexican president Sheinbaum Pardo responds. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
28 November 2024 Meta boss Zuckerberg has visited Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago. Meta has though been facing increasing regulation in recent years, including an ongoing antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2020. Historically, there has been no such closeness between Trump and Mr Zuckerberg - with Trump barred from Facebook and Instagram after the Capitol riots in 2021. But that suspension has since been lifted. In August this year, Mr Zuckerberg spoke of his regret at de-promoting content relating to allegations about Biden's son Hunter, which had been a right-wing talking point in the US prior to the 2020 presidential election. He also said he would make no more contributions to support electoral infrastructure, after a $400m donation in 2020 was viewed by some online as a way of skirting donation limits. In August, Trump wrote in a book Mr Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he attempted to interfere in the 2024 US election. But the president-elect softened his position, telling a podcast in October it was nice Mr Zuckerberg was staying out of the election, and thanking him for a personal phone call after he faced an assassination attempt. It is not known what the two men discussed over dinner at Trump's Florida home. Mr Zuckerberg's apparently improving relations with the president-elect have been totally eclipsed by Trump's closeness to Musk. Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Musk have a longstanding rivalry. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
NATO
Nov 28 2024 Italy takes over the helm for NATO's Deployable Air Command and Control Centre (DACCC). In November 21, the change of command ceremony, officiated by General Hecker, Commander of Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, took place at the Italian Air Force Aerospace Operations Command (COA) in Poggio Renatico. The ceremony marked the transfer of responsibilities between Major General Traas of the Royal Netherlands Air Force and Major General Maineri, who also serves as Commander of the COA. (Source: Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office - Headquarters Ramstein, Germany)
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