AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) – France’s central bank head Francois Villeroy de Galhau pushed back on Sunday against a suggestion from some French economists to raise the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2% inflation target. Villeroy, who sits on the ECB’s governing council, also said that its interest rate hikes were close to topping out and that…
MADRID (Reuters) – Two weeks ahead of Spain’s election, the conservative People’s Party (PP) opened up its lead over the ruling Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) but would still need the help of the far-right Vox party to govern, according to an opinion poll published by a newspaper on Sunday. A poll carried out by Ipsos…
(Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the leaders of the U.S.-led transatlantic NATO defence alliance should discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at their summit this week. NATO leaders will meet in Vilnius on July 11-12 to tackle a wide range of topics, from divisions over Ukraine’s membership bid and…
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey is taking measures to re-establish fiscal discipline and control the level of the budget deficit, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Sunday. The budget deficit for the first five months of the year was 263.6 billion lira ($10.12 billion), compared to 124.6 billion lira a year ago due to increased spending…
(This July 8 story has been refiled to remove extraneous word ‘vehicles’ in paragraph 6, and change ‘measures’ to ‘equipment’ in paragraph 8) By Andrius Sytas KANIUKAI, Lithuania (Reuters) – NATO has turned Vilnius into a fortress defended by advanced weaponry to protect U.S. President Joe Biden and other alliance leaders meeting next week only…
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed a U.S. decision to send cluster bombs to Kyiv, saying it would help to liberate Ukrainian territory but promised the munitions would not be used in Russia. The U.S. announced on Friday it would supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster munitions for its counteroffensive against occupying Russian…
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland began moving over 1,000 troops to the east of the country on Saturday, the defence minister said, amid rising concern in the NATO-member that the presence of Wagner Group fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to offer mercenary fighters of Yevgeny…
By Mathieu Rosemain AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) – A “Chinese storm” is looming over Europe’s growing electric vehicle (EV) sector, Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard told Reuters on Saturday, as Asia’s superpower dominates key raw materials to make batteries for zero emission cars. China’s recent decision to restrict exports of two metals – gallium and germanium –…
By Ismail Shakil OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is against the use of cluster munitions that Washington has promised to give Ukraine for its counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces, Ottawa said on Saturday, reiterating a commitment to the Oslo agreement that bans the controversial weapon. The U.S. said on Friday that it would supply Kyiv with…
(This July 7 story has been refiled to say ‘appropriate,’ not ‘inappropriate,’ in paragraph 6) MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s far-right party Vox proposed abolishing the current laws allowing abortion and euthanasia, according to its election manifesto published on Friday. “We defend the right to life from conception to natural death,” said the 169-page document, which…
