Author: staff
When the European Central Bank (ECB) meets next Thursday, it is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, partly because rising government bond yields are already pushing up borrowing costs across the eurozone. ECB President Christine Lagarde has played down hopes of a rescue, saying the solution to France’s debt problems lies at home. The yield on France’s 10-year government bond traded above 5% on Friday after rising to that level on Wednesday for the first time since 2002. The gap with German 10-year bonds, the eurozone’s safest debt, was above 170 basis points. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield was at…
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the center-right European People’s Party over alleged misuse of funds in its contracts with two Greek consultants, a media consortium reported. The investigation centers on more than half a million euros awarded to two consultants ahead of the 2024 European election. The European Parliament, which finances European political parties, refused to reimburse the contracts in full after deeming the costs excessive. It covered only the initial €110,000 payments, leaving the EPP to pay roughly €350,000 itself, according to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, Dutch investigative outlet Follow the Money and Greece’s Inside Story. The consultants…
As Lyon and Orléans prepare for a weekend of demonstrations, shopkeepers are boarding up windows, removing valuable stock and reinforcing entrances. In Lyon, workers were filmed on Friday installing wooden panels and protective fencing outside City Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Chamber of Commerce. Shops along Rue de la République were also being secured, with carpenters cutting boards and covering windows. The precautions reflect fears of possible violence and property damage, although no such incidents during the upcoming demonstrations have been confirmed. In Orléans, businesses along the planned protest route are also taking precautions ahead of a…
Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on X that at least one person had been killed and four others injured in a shooting in Trappes, a suburb west of Paris with a lower socioeconomic status and a large Muslim community. A 12-year-old was among those injured, the mayor of nearby town La Verrière told reporters. “The main focus will obviously be on identifying the perpetrator’s motives — what drove him to attempt to carry out a massacre … to target our communities,” Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh said on French broadcaster BFM. “Our thoughts are with the…
Published on 23/10/2026 – 13:25 GMT+2•Updated 13:46 An explosion at a coal mine in northwestern Turkey killed at least two people and injured five others, two of whom are in serious condition. One other miner remains trapped, local media reported on Friday. The explosion at the mine in the town of Gelik was caused by a “firedamp,” or flammable gas, local authorities said. “Eight people were in the tunnel, seven were rescued. Unfortunately, two of our miners died after being taken to hospital,” said Zonguldak governor Osman Hacibektasoglu. Two of the rescued miners suffered burns and were in serious condition.…
The Hungarian government’s draft budget for 2027 and its medium-term deficit targets support its aim of meeting the conditions for joining the eurozone by 2030, Fitch Ratings said in an assessment published on Thursday. According to the 2027 draft budget presented by Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Monday, the government intends to cut the general government deficit to 4.9% of GDP, from the 7.5% expected for this year. The budget includes planned spending cuts worth 1.5% of GDP next year. On top of this, the expiry of temporary and one-off pre-election measures could save a further 1.4%. The budget also…
It’s not just restaurants that were crowned at the 2026 World Culinary Awards – airlines, airports and airport lounges also picked up gongs for feeding hungry travellers. Vietnam Airlines took the title of World’s Best Culinary Airline 2026, becoming the first Asian carrier to win the award. It beat fellow nominees including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Cathay Pacific, and Turkish Airlines. Other aviation sector winners included London’s Heathrow Airport, Turkish Airlines’ international lounges, and Clubrooms at Gatwick South Terminal. What’s on the menu with Vietnam Airlines? Designed to “promote Vietnamese cuisine” to international travellers, the carrier’s in-flight…
U.S. platforms operate as entire ecosystems, offering all-encompassing solutions under a single contract. To do without them, “you need to start creating your own architecture and systems that need to speak to each other,” the registrar said. Financial autonomy was equally hard to achieve. The Court mapped all its suppliers’ transactions to ensure there was no U.S. nexus, meaning that no U.S. person, bank or currency is involved in a payment. “We made all of our staff members have European bank accounts. It was a very detailed process that we had to do, person by person, company by company, making…
With 412 million children living in extreme poverty, a global summit in Uzbekistan has called for greater investment in children’s healthcare, education and protection, alongside closer coordination between services that often operate separately. This was at the core of the Samarkand Declaration, adopted on Thursday at the end of a two-day gathering attended by representatives from more than 100 countries. The declaration calls for stronger social protection systems, nationally determined targets and regular reporting on the quality and effectiveness of services for children. According to UNICEF, two-thirds of the child-related UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators it monitors are off track,…
A tanker carrying Russian diesel is en route to New York after US President Donald Trump announced a deal with Moscow in early October, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler. The Malta-flagged tanker Agioi Fanendes was located off Helsinki on Friday and was signalling “New York” as its destination via its AIS transponder. It loaded nearly 300,000 barrels of diesel at the Russian oil terminal of Primorsk, according to Kpler. Separate shipping data from LSEG put the cargo at 40,000 tonnes of ultra-low-sulphur diesel. It left Primorsk overnight on 22–23 October and is expected to arrive on…