Page 12 - Europe

India ratifies trade deal with EFTA, eyes boost in exports, investment

India on Tuesday submitted the ratification document of the free trade agreement with the four-European nation bloc EFTA to Norway. The pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), will be implemented from October 1, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said on Saturday. "India deposited the Instrument of Ratification of the TEPA between India and EFTA today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, which is the depository entity of TEPA," according to a post by the Indian Embassy in Norway on X. The two sides signed the agreement on March 10, 2024. Under the pact, India has received an investment commitment of USD 100 billion in 15 years from the grouping while allowing several products, such as Swiss watches, chocolates, and cut and polished diamonds, at lower or zero duties. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

DRI busts racket involved in duty evasion in branded furniture imports

DRI officers have busted a racket involved in undervaluation of imports of branded luxury furniture and arrested three persons for customs duty evasion of Rs 30 crore, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. Investigation conducted thus far revealed that branded luxury furniture was being directly sourced by a beneficial importer from reputed Italian and other European suppliers, and invoicing was being done in the names of shell companies based in jurisdictions such as Dubai. In parallel, fabricated invoices were obtained through a Singapore-based intermediary in the names of dummy importers falsely declaring the goods as unbranded furniture at significantly undervalued rates to Customs. Once cleared through Customs, the goods were transferred on paper to the intended beneficial owner via a local intermediary created for this purpose, while the goods were directly sent to the customer on the instructions of beneficial owner. "Preliminary findings indicate a gross undervaluation of 7

Iran, European nations to hold first nuclear talks since Israel ceasefire

Iran said Monday it would hold renewed talks this week with European nations over the country's nuclear program, with discussions to be hosted by Turkey. The talks, to be held in Istanbul on Friday, will be the first since a ceasefire was reached after a 12-day war waged by Israel against Iran in June, which also saw the United States strike nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic. A similar meeting had been held in the Turkish city in May. The discussions will bring Iranian officials together with officials from Britain, France and Germany known as the E3 nations and will include the European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. The topic of the talks is clear, lifting sanctions and issues related to the peaceful nuclear programme of Iran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in his weekly briefing. He said the meeting will be held at the deputy ministerial level. Under a 2015 deal designed to cap Iran's nuclear activities, Iran agreed to toug

China stood up to Trump, and it's not giving Europe an inch, either

Beijing is betting that economic pressure and diplomatic defiance will force concessions, but its stance could put more strain on its ties with Europe at a crucial time

India-EFTA trade pact to come into force from Oct 1: Piyush Goyal

To generate $500 billion investment in India likely in brownfield or greenfield projects, and maybe in some cases, even mature assets

EU targets Russia's energy revenue, shadow fleet with new sanctions

The European Union approved on Friday a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war, Kallas said in a statement. Kallas said the EU move amounts to one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date, linked to the war, which is now in its fourth year. It comes as European countries start to buy US weapons for Ukraine to help the country better defend itself. The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, had proposed to lower the oil price cap from USD 60 to USD 45, which is lower than the market price, to target Russia's vast energy revenues. The EU had hoped to get major international powers in the Group of Seven countries involved in

Paradise lost as climate change remakes Europe's summer weather

As southern Europeans dream of fjords, the traditional hot spots and fixtures of travel agency package deals no longer seem so desirable

European ministers meet to forge strategy after surprise 30% US tariffs

European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union. The EU is America's biggest business partner and the world's largest trading bloc. The US decision will have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. We shouldn't impose countermeasures at this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools in the toolbox, said Denmark's foreign minister, Lars Lkke Rasmussen, told reporters ahead of the meeting. So we want a deal, but there's an old saying: 'If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.' The tariffs, also imposed on Mexico, are set to start on Aug 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US, and destabilise economies from Portugal to Norway. Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on US goods ..

Hero MotoCorp to enter UK, Germany, France, Spain in Q2 FY26: Munjal

Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal said that the firm achieved 43 per cent year-on-year growth in international markets in FY2025 from South Asia to Latin America

Worldline turmoil hands Swiss bourse a $300 mn blow on strategic stake

The bourse's current stake of roughly 10 per cent in Worldline was valued in its accounts at just under €400 million ($467 million) at the end of 2024

Life-threatening heat domes challenge forecasters amid climate change

This phenomenon has also already struck Europe and China this summer, leading to the temporary closure of the Eiffel Tower and worries about wilting rice crops, respectively

European leaders back new fund, urge investment in war-hit Ukraine

European leaders urged private business and equity on Thursday to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war, as they opened an annual recovery conference with announcements of a new equity fund and public-private partnerships amid uncertainties of the US commitment to Kyiv's defence. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kicked off the proceedings in Rome as Russia pounded Ukraine's capital with another major missile and drone attack overnight in some of the heaviest attacks on Kyiv in the more than three-year war. The conference is expected to finalise individual deals of guarantees and grants to unlock more than 10 billion Euros (around USD 12 billion) in investments, Meloni said. The European Commission, for its part, announced the creation of the largest equity fund to date to support Ukraine, the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. The message we want to send today to businesses is: Don't be .

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survives confidence vote

European Union lawmakers will hold a confidence vote Thursday on the head of the bloc's powerful executive arm, Ursula von der Leyen, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban leading calls for her to be ousted. The censure motion, the first at the European Parliament in over a decade, was brought against the European Commission president by a group of hard-right lawmakers. To pass, it requires a two-thirds majority vote in favour. Von der Leyen could be forced to resign if she loses, but she is virtually guaranteed to win as most of the political groups in the assembly have signalled they would vote against the motion. She is not expected to attend the vote in Strasbourg, France. The motion contains a mix of allegations against von der Leyen including text messaging privately with the boss of COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer, misuse of EU funds and interference in elections in Germany and Romania. Orban said on Facebook that the vote will be the moment of truth: on one side the ...

Fossil fuel combustion caused 1,500 deaths in European heat wave: Study

Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it had not been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century, said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people

Europe court set to rule on cases against Russia over Ukraine conflict

Europe's top human rights court is set to rule Wednesday on Russia's actions in the conflict in Ukraine, including human rights violations during the full-scale invasion and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will rule on four cases, brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, marking the first time an international court will adjudicate Russian culpability for the wider conflict in Ukraine dating from 2014. Any decision will be largely symbolic. The complaints were brought before the court's governing body expelled Moscow in 2022, following the full-scale invasion. Families of the victims of the MH17 disaster see the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice. It's a real step in understanding who was really responsible, Thomas Schansman, who lost his 18-year-old son Quinn in the tragedy, told The Associated Press. The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was sh

Jaguar Land Rover sees 11% drop in Q1 dispatches to global dealers

Jaguar Land Rover on Monday said its dispatches to dealers declined by 11 per cent year-on-year to 87,286 units for the first quarter ended June 30. Compared to the prior year, wholesale volumes for the first quarter were down in North America, Europe and the UK by 12 per cent, 14 per cent and 25 per cent respectively, JLR said in a statement. The UK market was the most impacted by the planned cessation of the legacy Jaguar models, it added. The British marquee brand said its retail sales for the April-June period this year stood at 94,420 units, a dip of 15 per cent as compared with same period last fiscal. Volumes reduced in line with the company's expectations following a challenging quarter, it said. This largely reflects the planned wind down of legacy Jaguar models ahead of the launch of new Jaguar, and a pause in shipments to the US during April 2025 following the introduction of US import tariffs, it added. Tata Motors shares on Monday ended flat at 688.85 apiece on BSE.

India-EFTA trade pact likely to be implemented in coming months: Goyal

The free trade agreement between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA is likely to come into force in the next couple of months, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. The two sides signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10, 2024. Under the pact, India has received an investment commitment of USD 100 billion in 15 years from the grouping while allowing several products such as Swiss watches, chocolates, and cut and polished diamonds at lower or zero duties. "I think it should come into effect, I believe in the next couple of months," Goyal said here at an event of SGS India. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Talking about the government's initiative to promote manufacturing of quality products in the country, Goyal said in the last 10 years, 156 quality control orders (QCOs) covering 672 products have been issued to cut import of sub-standard goods into th

Steel industry calls for safeguard measures to protect local players

Calling for protectionist measures to check cheap steel imports, Jindal Stainless Managing Director Abhyuday Jindal on Thursday said that the country has sufficient steel production capacity to meet the local demand. Jindal also said that in addition to the US and Europe, countries with very low steel production are also adopting protective measures. It is very important to protect "our country," Jindal said while addressing an Indian Chamber of Commerce's event here. "The US has done it, Europe has been doing it for quite some time. Now, nations like in the Middle East, where there is not much steel production, Canada, where there isn't much steel production, are also going for some kind of protectionist measures," Jindal, who is also the President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, said. Jindal also appreciated the steps taken by the government to safeguard the interest of the domestic steel industry. "There was substandard, Chinese material coming in (through) from Vietnam...Ou

2 killed in Spanish wildfire as extreme heat wave hits parts of Europe

Europe's continuing heat wave on Wednesday helped fuel a deadly wildfire in Spain while the European Union presented plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under scorching temperatures. The blaze that broke out late on Tuesday created an enormous thick plume of ash and smoke that rose 14,000 metres into the sky, making it the largest registered by firefighters in Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain. Two farmers were killed while apparently trying to flee in a vehicle, local authorities said Wednesday. Firefighters said that the fire spread at 28 kph (17 mph) at one point as it consumed 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) mostly of grain fields. Wildfires today are not like they were before, Salvador Illa, the regional president of Catalonia, said. These are extremely dangerous. From the very first moment, it was considered to be beyond the capacity of extinction. I mean that not even with two or three times the number of firefighters, they have told me, it would have been possib

Heatwaves grip Europe: Red alerts, wildfires, Eiffel Tower closed

Spain sees hottest June in a century; more than 50,000 people evacuated amid wildfires in Turkiye and the Balkans