Author: Euronews

The funds will allow the Palestinian Authority to pay teachers, health workers and other public sector employees. ADVERTISEMENTNorway says it will transfer tax funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that have been frozen for months because of a dispute with Israel.Under interim peace agreements dating back to the early 1990s, Israel collects taxes and customs on behalf of the PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and also helps pay for public services in Gaza.After Hamas’ attack on 7 October triggered the war in Gaza, Israel reduced the transfers by the amount that was spent on the territory.…

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has confirmed her intention to lead the executive for five more years. ADVERTISEMENTThe announcement was made at a meeting of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, the DPA news agency reported. It caps off weeks of relentless speculation in Brussels over her political future, which has also been linked to NATO, and heats up the race to preside over the Commission, the most powerful institution in the European Union.Von der Leyen’s nomination will be confirmed by acclamation in early March during the annual congress of her political family, the centre-right…

Investors have previously aired concerns about the Spanish bank having operations across a number of countries throughout the world. ADVERTISEMENTSpanish bank Santander has announced a share buyback programme of €1.5 billion and says it will raise its dividend for 2024 by 50%.Shares, which have lagged behind other banks, rose more than 2% in early trading following the announcement.The average purchase price of shares would not be more than €4.76, with an average price of €3.95 expected, revealed Reuters, quoting Santander. The move means some 40% of the bank’s pre-tax profits will go back to shareholders while the rest will go towards…

In this edition of State of the Union we focus on considerations by the EU aviation safety authority and some airlines to cut one pilot for cost reasons. The pilots are vehemently opposed to this. ADVERTISEMENTThe world has gotten used to nonsensical remarks by Donald Trump.That’s why European leaders rarely comment on them, they usually hold their noses and move on.But Trump’s suggestion during a campaign rally that the United States would not protect NATO allies who fail to spend enough on defense sparked a rare public backlash.“Dangerous”, “unhinged”, “appalling” – those were some of the friendlier reactions.Here’s the EU’s…

The country’s finance minister said in a TV interview that spending cuts will be made across every government ministry with immediate effect. ADVERTISEMENTFrance is dropping its GDP growth forecast for this year from 1.4% to 1% and will slash spending by about €10 billion, the country’s finance minister has said.Bruno Le Maire announced in a TV interview on French channel TF1 on Sunday that the government will cut the budget of each ministry and certain governmental initiatives with immediate effect, to offset the sluggish growth outlook.Doing so will enable France to keep its target of lowering its deficit to 4.4%…

Repeated delays and a farmer-led green policy backlash have left the flagship “Farm to Fork” strategy in doubt. ADVERTISEMENTIn 2020, the European Commission unveiled its “Farm to Fork” food strategy – yet over half of its promises are still unmet, an analysis by Euronews has found.It’s supposedly a flagship element of the EU’s environmentally-focused green deal, but there’s been a recent high-profile backlash by protesting farmers.Of the 31 actions promised as part of Farm to Fork, 15 have not got off the ground – and one, a contentious proposal on pesticides, was even withdrawn by Commission President Ursula von der…

EU Commissioner Sinkevičius claims the Hungarian prime minister is “isolated” among other EU leaders, and that his actions only serve Europe’s enemies in the Kremlin. ADVERTISEMENTEU Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius has described Hungary’s continuous blocking of important milestones in the West’s defence against Russia as “shameful”.“It’s shameful” – he said, speaking to Euronews – “to postpone decisions; not to have a vote on Sweden joining NATO, these are obvious actions against collective security.””It’s against the interests of the EU, against the interests of the Western world. And that’s something that can only satisfy one side: the Moscow regime,” he said.Victor Orbán’s pre-Christmas refusal…

A new legislation fast-tracked through parliament and approved earlier this month would abolish the special prosecutor’s office, which handles serious crimes such as graft, organized crime and extremism. ADVERTISEMENTSlovakia’s president said on Friday that she will challenge at the Constitutional Court an amendment to the country’s penal code that eliminates the office of the special prosecutor dealing with major crimes and corruption.President Zuzana Caputova said she was also asking Slovakia’s top court to freeze the legislation, which was approved by lawmakers loyal to populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, until it decides on her complaint. It is not clear when the…

European countries are some of the best places for pensions in the world, analysis shows, and AI is having an increasing impact on how each system works. ADVERTISEMENTThe Netherlands is top of the class when it comes to comparing pension systems around the world, according to a recent global pensions report from the Mercer CFA Institute.The ranking looked at more than 50 indicators and compared 47 retirement income systems, covering 64% of the world’s population.The most relevant measurements were the level of private and public sector pension benefits available, the sustainability of the system to last decades into the future…

Japan slips into recession, becoming the 4th-largest economy, behind the US, China and now Germany. ADVERTISEMENTJapan’s economy is now the world’s fourth-largest after it contracted in the last quarter of 2023 and fell behind Germany.The government reported the economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.4% in October to December, according to Cabinet Office data on real GDP, though it grew 1.9% for all of 2023. It contracted 2.9% in July-September. Two straight quarters of contraction are considered an indicator an economy is in a technical recession.Japan’s economy was the second largest until 2010, when it was overtaken by China’s. Japan’s…