Israel and Egypt are working “feverishly” to arrange a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Egypt, a TV report said, as Sissi’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Netanyahu in Israel on Sunday night.
The goal of the visit would be to coordinate a regional peace effort, Channel 2 News said. Israel Radio reported earlier Sunday on efforts to arrange a Netanyahu-Sissi meeting, but there was no official confirmation.
The summit could be held in Cairo or Sharm -e-Sheikh, the TV report said.
Israel is hoping the trip can be arranged by the end of the year, the TV report added, both to offset any pressure surrounding the French effort to convene an international summit, and to reduce the likelihood of President Barack Obama attempting to initiate any new peace bid in the final weeks of his presidency.
The report said Sunday’s surprise visit to Israel by Shoukry was coordinated between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose Arab Peace Initiative is backed by Sissi and much of the Arab world and would form the basis of any regional peace effort. Netanyahu has rejected the Arab Peace Initiative in its current form but said in late May that it “contains positive elements that could help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians.”
Shoukry, on his Israel visit, was also reportedly seeking Israeli assurances that the new reconciliation agreement between Israel and Turkey would not undermine cooperation between Israel and Egypt on natural gas exports, or on the joint effort to weaken Hamas, the Islamist terror group that rules Gaza and is supported by Turkey.
Shoukry’s was the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to Israel since 2007.
Speaking to journalists alongside Netanyahu before their meeting, Shoukry said it was a “crucial and challenging juncture for the Middle East.” He added that Cairo was dedicated to “establishing a just and comprehensive peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
“The goal we aim to achieve through negotiations between the two parties is one that is based on justice, legitimate rights and mutual willingness to coexist peacefully in two neighboring independent states in peace and security,” he said.
British and European nations now under constant threat of terror attacks should spare a thought (and prayer) for Israel.
In one of the most shocking incidents yet since the start of lone-wolf knife and gun attacks by Palestinian terrorists, a 13-year-old girl was butchered to death while asleep in her bed.
The grisly murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel came just days after a senior adviser to PA president Mahmoud Abbas urged his people to slit the throats of Israelis rather than engage in dialogue. “If you ask me my blunt position, I would say—every place you find an Israeli, slit his throat,” Sultan Abu al-Einein, a central committee member of the ruling Fatah party, told the Palestinian website Donia al-Watan when asked about Palestinian officials participating in Israeli conferences. “Likewise, I am against talks, negotiations, meetings and normalization in all its forms with the Israeli occupation.”
And on the day after the world woke up to news of Hallel’s tragic death, an Iranian military official boasted of having 100,000 missiles in Lebanon ready to annihilate the Jewish state.
Speaking on al-Quds Day, when Iranians mark their solidarity with Palestinians, Iranian Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Hossein Salami said: “The opportunity to destroy Israel is now better than ever because tens of thousands of long-range missiles all over the Islamic world are ready to hit Israel immediately upon receiving the order.”
In any case, the Jewish people are under greater threat now than they were under the Nazis, and this time British Christians especially must avoid the shameful option of passing by on the other side of the road like the religious folk in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37). Israel has fallen “into the hands of robbers” (v30). We must take pity on them, tend to their wounds and look after them. The church dare not remain silent. “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.” That’s a pretty dire warning from God’s word.
But a great opportunity also lies before us, as the verse continues: “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4.14)
However, if we refuse to come to their aid, we will not prosper. For, in speaking of the future glory of Zion, Isaiah declares that “no weapon forged against you will prevail”. (Isa 54.17)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made a rare visit to Jerusalem on Sunday and asserted, standing alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Cairo remained a “steadfast and unwavering” supporter of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sameh Shoukry’s was the first such visit by an Egyptian foreign minister since 2007. Recently, Israel has emerged as a discreet ally of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who has positioned himself as a central player in jump-starting the stalemated peace process.
The visit came amid talk of renewing an Arab peace initiative and with Israel’s military having recently saluted “unprecedented” intelligence cooperation with Egypt to combat the Islamic State group.
Speaking to journalists alongside Netanyahu before their meeting, Shoukry said it was a “crucial and challenging juncture for the Middle East.” He added that Cairo was dedicated to “establishing a just and comprehensive peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people, bringing this long conflict to an end.
It’s been almost 10 years in the making, but the fate of one of Europe’s most important financial institutions appears to be sealed.
After a hard-hitting sequence of scandals, poor decisions, and unfortunate events,Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes that Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank shares are now down -48% on the year to $12.60, which is a record-setting low.
Even more stunning is the long-term view of the German institution’s downward spiral.
With a modest $15.8 billion in market capitalization, shares of the 147-year-old company now trade for a paltry 8% of its peak price in May 2007.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
If the deaths of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were quick and painless, the coming demise of Deutsche Bank has been long, drawn out, and painful.
In recent times, Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division has been among the largest in the world, comparable in size to Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup. However, unlike those other names, Deutsche Bank has been walking wounded since the Financial Crisis, and the German bank has never been able to fully recover.
It’s ironic, because in 2009, the company’s CEO Josef Ackermann boldly proclaimed that Deutsche Bank had plenty of capital, and that it was weathering the crisis better than its competitors.
It turned out, however, that the bank was actually hiding $12 billion in losses to avoid a government bailout. Meanwhile, much of the money the bank did make during this turbulent time in the markets stemmed from the manipulation of Libor rates. Those “wins” were short-lived, since the eventual fine to end the Libor probe would be a record-setting $2.5 billion.
The bank finally had to admit that it actually needed more capital.
Deutsche Bank started the year by announcing a record-setting loss in 2015 of €6.8 billion.
Cryan went on an immediate PR binge, proclaiming that the bank was “rock solid”. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble even went out of his way to say he had “no concerns” about Deutsche Bank.
Translation: things are in full-on crisis mode.
In the following weeks, here’s what happened:
- May 16, 2016: Berenberg Bank warns that DB’s woes may be “insurmountable”, noting that DB is more than 40x levered.
- June 2, 2016: Two ex-DB employees are charged in ongoing U.S. Libor probe for rigging interest rates. Meanwhile, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority says there are at least 29 DB employees involved in the scandal.
- June 23, 2016: Brexit decision hits DB hard. The bank is the largest European bank in London and receives 19% of its revenues from the UK.
- June 29, 2016: IMF issues statement that “DB appears to be the most important net contributor to systematic risks”.
- June 30, 2016: Federal Reserve announces that DB fails Fed stress test in US, due to “poor risk management and financial planning”.
Doesn’t sound “rock solid”, does it?
Now the real question: what happens to Deutsche Bank’s derivative book, which has a notional value of €52 trillion, if the bank is insolvent?
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