News Headlines - 23 March 2019

▽Economic slowdown fears send NY stocks lower - NHK WORLD

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged over 400 points on Friday, amid growing concerns over the global economic slowdown.
The Dow ended Friday's trading session in New York at 25,502, a drop of 460 points, or 1.8 percent lower than Thursday's close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged more than two percent.
The US Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday that it would not raise interest rates this year, pointing out that the pace of economic activity has slowed.

▽Peugeot, After Digesting GM’s Europe Business, Set Sights on Fiat Chrysler - WSJ

Peugeot maker PSA Group approached Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV earlier this year about combining the two car makers, according to people familiar with the matter, proposing to form a $45 billion industry behemoth that would reposition their businesses in the U.S. and Europe.
Fiat Chrysler rebuffed the overture, as it had previous ones by the French car maker, according to these people. Those approaches haven’t been previously disclosed.

▽US sanctions Chinese firms for helping N.Korea - NHK WORLD

The United States has imposed sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies for helping North Korea evade UN Security Council sanctions.
The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it had placed the two firms on the US sanctions list. The move prohibits anyone in the US from dealing with the designated companies and freezes any assets they have in the country.
The department said one of the Chinese companies shipped cargo to a North Korean firm that is based in the western city of Nampo and affiliated with Pyongyang's spy agency. It also said the other company used deceptive practices to enable North Korean procurement officials in the European Union to purchase goods for their country's regime.

▽Venezuelan Opposition Aide Seized, Drawing Rebuke From U.S. | Time

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s top aide was taken away in the middle of the night by masked intelligence agents who broke down his door early Thursday, drawing condemnation from the United States and other countries pushing to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
Washington demanded the immediate release of Guaido chief of staff Roberto Marrero, whose whereabouts after the raid on his Caracas home were not immediately disclosed.

▽Uri Geller calls on Britons to help telepathically stop Brexit | The Guardian

The illusionist Uri Geller has called on the British people to help him in his efforts to telepathically stop Brexit by sending their own telepathic messages to Theresa May’s mind, compelling her to revoke article 50.
Geller wrote an open letter to the prime minister on Friday warning her he will use the powers of his mind to stop her from leading Britain into Brexit.
He plans to transmit his psychic energy into May’s brain at the “very mystical time” of 11.11 in the morning and evening every day from a secret location near his home in Israel.