Author: staff

Eurozone inflation fell to 2.4% in December 2024, but ECB chief economist Philip Lane cautions that services inflation and uneven growth persist. A “middle path” on interest rates and structural reforms is crucial for stability. The eurozone has made substantial progress in reducing inflation, yet ensuring it stabilises at the 2% target without hindering economic growth remains a critical challenge, according to Philip Lane, the European Central Bank’s chief economist.In an interview with Der Standard on Monday, Lane highlighted that inflation dropped to 2.4% in December 2024, down from a peak of 10% in late 2022. Despite this significant progress, he cautioned…

Virgin Group says it is close to placing a significant order for high-speed trains that is expected to shake up Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly on the Channel Tunnel. Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is preparing to order 12 high-speed trains as a challenge to high-speed rail startup, Evolyn, which is also hoping to compete with Eurostar to offer rail services from London to mainland Europe. Currently, Eurostar has a monopoly on Channel Tunnel train travel.The Virgin order is expected to be worth upwards of about £500m (€595.20m). Two rail suppliers have been shortlisted so far, with Virgin Group currently considering offerings from companies…

“Why should I, as the leader of a stable coalition party, pay the price for the coalition’s inability to enforce laws in parliament?” he added. Fico said that an alternative to the snap elections would be a reshuffle of the number of MPs set by the coalition agreement, a scenario neither of the two coalition partners are fond of. The coalition crisis was sparked by the departure of three SNS MPs who rebelled and quit their caucus in October over internal disputes — and continue to withhold support for the coalition until it meets their demands. As a result, Fico’s…

Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US president next Monday —and speculation remains high over which music acts will perform at the high-profile ceremony. The shortlist is… well, short. In exactly a week’s time, it’s happening.We’re not talking about Martin Luther King Jr Day, or Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, which – rather poetically for some – falls on the same date.On Monday 20 January, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US president in Washington DC. For the first time, the 78-year-old will become the first leader to be sworn…

The two leaders will discuss expanding cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, including in “trade, investment, transport, logistics, humanitarian sphere, and current issues on the regional and international agenda,” the statement said. The agreement is also expected to cement the growing military and political partnership between the two nations. Moscow’s ties with the Iranian regime have intensified since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Iran has provided Russia with Shahed drones used to target civilian infrastructure and power plants in Ukraine. Last October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia would have signed a strategic partnership agreement with Iran…

While most Western companies are willing to leave the country, or have already, several hundred stayed in Russia after Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Late last year, Lufthansa Technik and Carlsberg left the Russian market. Out of the 1,600 companies that the researchers looked at, more than 900 are from G7 countries that all support Ukraine politically, financially and militarily: “The 930 G7 and EU firms were the top profit taxpayers in Russia, with 16 of the top 20 contributors coming from these nations,” the report says. Narrowing down to the EU, the…

The offers from Bern and Belgrade come as US President-elect Donald Trump seeks to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine. Switzerland and Serbia have both offered to host a potential meeting between incoming US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, several days after the possibility of such talks was raised. Trump, who will become in charge of the White House again next Monday, said last week that his team were working to schedule a meeting with Putin. The Republican leader hopes to use the occasion to make good on his promise to…

At least 24 people have been killed and entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles reduced to ash as California faces what its governor, Gavin Newsom, said could be the worst natural disaster in United States history. Zelenskyy’s offer came after Donald Trump Jr., eldest son and adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, took a swipe last week at Ukraine over the fires. “Oh look of course the LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine,” Trump Jr. wrote on social media, sharing an article from 2022 about the Los Angeles County Fire Department donating surplus supplies like boots,…

It is expected to be released soon as part of a new so-called Competitiveness Compass to help make the EU economy compete with other world regions but was pushed back last week due to President Ursula von der Leyen’s bout of severe pneumonia. The text, called the 2025 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report, was first reported by Bloomberg. The EU executive raised concerns about its tech sector in the draft, flagging that the EU’s share of the global market in tech and digital services has halved over the past decade (to 10.8 percent) while the U.S. share has increased by a third (to…

Plug-in hybrids saw the most rapid growth in 2024, attracting a second generation of electric vehicle buyers who are nervous about buying pure EVs or looking for the more extended range that hybrids can provide. Sales of all types of electric vehicles rose more than 40% in China last year, while those of petrol-powered car plunged, industry data has revealed.A total of 31.4 million vehicles were sold last year in the world’s biggest market by sales, up 4.5% compared from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported. Growth in sales outpaced production, which rose 3.7%.China’s exports of passenger…