Author: Euronews

The German pharmaceutical group sees annual sales drop as its CEO admits the firm has four challenges that “urgently must be addressed”. ADVERTISEMENTBayer’s annual financial report, released on Tuesday, showed that annual sales came in at €47.6 billion, down 6% compared to 2022.Net financial debt over the year increased by 8.5%, recorded at €34.5 billion.The pharmaceutical firm has long been under pressure to break up into diversified groups, a move that must now be postponed.”Our answer is ‘not now’ – and this shouldn’t be misunderstood as ‘never’,” said CEO Bill Anderson in a statement.Anderson, who joined Bayer last year, added…

With no end in sight to president Putin’s war on Ukraine, European energy ministers have agreed to extend for a second year voluntary measures to keep natural gas demand across the EU to at least 15% below pre-invasion levels, and discussed ways to end lingering dependence on Russian gas. ADVERTISEMENTEuropean energy ministers have agreed to extend for a second year voluntary measures to keep natural gas demand across to at least 15% below where they stood when Russia supplied some two-fifths of the bloc’s needs, while the EU executive said the bloc is ready to stop ongoing imports through war-torn…

Tesla shares hit as sales in China drop dramatically because of a lack of demand over the Lunar New Year. ADVERTISEMENTTesla shares dropped 7.16% on Monday to $188.14 (€173.38) following Chinese sales falling to over one-year lows. This was the lowest since 14 February.Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory saw about 60,365 vehicle shipments in February, according to China’s Passenger Car Association, reported by Bloomberg. That was 16% less than January, as well as 19% down year-on-year. It was also the lowest sales figure since December 2022.The factory has the capacity to produce more than 950,000 units, accounting for about 25% of Shanghai’s…

Newsletter: This week’s key events, focusing on tech giant gatekeepers’ compliance under the DMA, presented by policy editor Jeremy Fleming-Jones Key diary datesADVERTISEMENT• Monday 4 March: Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation trilogue negotiations, European Commission, Parliament and Council expected to agree final text.• Tuesday 5 March: European Commission to release defence strategy, after promising vaccine-style joint procurement and industry support.• Thursday 7 March: Digital Markets Act applies, gatekeeper tech companies must comply fully from today.In spotlightFrom Thursday (7 March) the 22 core digital platform services provided by designated gatekeepers Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft must fully comply with…

Everton and Nottingham Forest have previously fallen foul of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, which permit losses of up to £105 million over a three-year period. ADVERTISEMENTFootball club Aston Villa has insisted it is operating within the financial rules of the English Premier League despite reporting a loss of £119.6 million (€139.8 million) in its latest accounts on Tuesday.The accounts are up to 31 May 2023, covering a period when the team finished seventh in the league to qualify for the Europa Conference League.Everton and Nottingham Forest have previously fallen foul of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability…

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews. Undermining binding EU legislation on corporate accountability would be a green-light signal by the bloc’s governments to reckless businesses that they can keep fuelling the climate and ecological crises for corporate profits, Alban Grosdidier writes. ADVERTISEMENTA law to defend human rights and the environment from corporate exploitation should never have been controversial in the first place. European multinational supply chains already have a hefty death toll attached. Fast fashion factories like Rana Plaza collapsing and killing over 1,000 garment…

China’s premier outlined plans to boost spending on developing advanced technology, fortifying the country’s military and supporting the economy, among many other longstanding goals. ADVERTISEMENTChina aims to achieve 5% economic growth this year, Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday, acknowledging that it will be a challenging goal in difficult times.In his address to the annual session of the National People’s Congress, Li outlined plans to boost spending on developing advanced technology, fortifying China’s military and supporting the economy, among many other longstanding goals. But there was no big package of stimulus to help boost markets and reassure worried investors.Li, presenting an…

Mbappé owns seven EU trademarks, including his famous cross-armed pose, in comparison to six apiece for Messi and Ronaldo. ADVERTISEMENTIt’s hard to say whether Kylian Mbappé is ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their battle for the honorific title of “best player in the world”.But ahead of his expected move to Real Madrid, Mbappé is already leading the pair of multiple Ballon d’Or winners when it comes to intellectual property protection.In a sign of his immense commercial power, the PSG striker owns seven EU trademarks, including his iconic cross-armed goal celebration pose, his name and the logo of…

Coming to you from the European Parliament in Strasbourg, we analyse the joint military efforts that the EU is undergoing ADVERTISEMENTThis week, we are joined by Petras Auštrevičius, Lithuanian MEP from the liberal Renew Europe group, Hannah Neumann, German MEP from the Greens, and Rasa Juknevičienė, centre-right MEP from Lithuania.The panel reacted to the urgent debate in the European Parliament this week that focused on building a proper EU defence union. With war on the EU’s doorstep, the Commission President told the chamber that the EU had to wake up urgently. Ursula von der Leyen proposed the joint purchase of military…

The value of the overall crypto market rose 5% in 24 hours to hit $2.44 trillion. ADVERTISEMENTThe biggest cryptocurrency by market value is continuing to rally with the price reaching above $65,000 (€59,919) in the early Asian trade on Monday, as institutional investors pushed up the prices of cryptocurrencies. The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX) had a peak of $65,563.25 (€60,408.34) in the early hours of Monday.The $65,000 is about 5% below Bitcoin’s all-time high value in dollar terms of $69,000 which was set in November 2021.One of the main drivers of the current rally is that investment in crypto funds…