Page 35 - Europe

'India-Europe-Middle East corridor largest cooperation project in history'

Welcoming the announcement of the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described it as the "largest cooperation project in our history" that will "change the face of the Middle East, Israel, and will affect the entire world". The new economic corridor, which many see as an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative, was jointly announced on Saturday by the leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi. In a video message released late Saturday evening, Netanyahu said that Israel is at the focus of an unprecedented international project that will link infrastructure from Asia to Europe. "I welcome the statement that was released today by the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the European Union, as well as France, Italy and Germany," Netanyahu said. "A good week to you, citizens of ..

G20: India-Middle East-Europe mega connectivity corridor deal announced

A connectivity corridor through India, the Middle East and Europe will soon be launched, sources said on Saturday. They said it will be a historic and first of its kind initiative for cooperation on connectivity and infrastructure involving India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Europian Union, France, Italy, Germany and the US. The development comes amid the ongoing G20 summit which, in a major diplomatic breakthrough for India, agreed on a join declaration.

India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor launched at Delhi G20 Summit

Lauding the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe connectivity corridor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a historic agreement was concluded today

BofA expects to ECB hike all three policy rates by 25 bps next week

The brokerage expects "very little" forward outlook for the following meetings but said the bias would be towards pausing and not cutting rates

PM Modi proposes economic corridor between Asean & Europe through India

PM Modi tells East Asia Summit that free and open Indo-Pacific is in everyone's interest

Rahul Gandhi leaves for Europe tour; to meet EU lawyers, students: Report

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday left for an almost week-long Europe tour during which he will hold meetings with European Union (EU) lawyers, students and the Indian diaspora, sources said. Gandhi will meet a group of EU lawyers in Brussels on September 7 and also hold a similar meeting in The Hague, they said. According to the sources, the former Congress president will address students at a university in Paris on September 8. He is also slated to participate in a meeting of the Labour Union of France in Paris on September 9. Thereafter, he will visit Norway, where he will address a diaspora event in Oslo on September 10, they said. Gandhi is likely to return by September 11, a day after the G20 summit concludes. The G20 Leaders Summit will be held from September 9-10 in Delhi. India is hosting the G20 summit in its capacity as the current president of the grouping and it is likely to be attended by more than 30 heads of state, top officials from the European Union and .

Meta to drop 'Facebook News' tab in some European countries this year

Meta has started blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada in response to a new law requiring internet giants to pay news publishers

Israel PM pitches fiber optic cable idea to link Asia-Middle East to Europe

Israel's prime minister on Sunday floated the idea of building infrastructure projects such as a fiber optic cable linking countries in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula with Europe through Israel and Cyprus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he's quite confident such an infrastructure corridor linking Asia to Europe through Israel and Cyprus is feasible. He said such projects could happen if Israel normalises relations with other countries in the region. The 2020 U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and the Bidensadministration is trying to establish official ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. An example and the most obvious one is a fiber optic connection. That's the shortest route. It's the safest route. It's the most economic route, Netanyahu said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. The Israeli leader's pitch is itself an extension of proposed energy links with Cyprus and Greece as

Microsoft to stop packaging Teams and Office software in Europe

Microsoft will stop packaging its Teams videoconferencing app with its Office software in Europe in an effort to head off antitrust penalties by regulators. The tech giant also said Thursday that it would take steps to make it easier for competing products to work alongside its software. The announcement comes a month after the European Union's executive Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top competition enforcer, opened a formal investigation over concerns that bundling Teams with Office gives the company an unfair edge over competitors. The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, maker of popular workplace messaging software. Slack, owned by business software maker Salesforce, alleged that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance to eliminate competition in violation of EU laws by illegally combining Teams with its Office suite, which includes Word, Excel and Outlook. "Today we are announcing proactive changes that we hope will start to

Outlook of Europeans towards India has turned more negative: Pew Survey

The most significant change is seen in France, where just 39 per cent now have a favourable view of India, compared with 70 per cent in 2008

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to leave for Europe in Sept to meet lawmakers

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Europe next month and meet European Commission lawmakers in Belgium besides addressing students at a university in Paris. He is also likely to address the Indian diaspora at an event in Oslo early September, sources said. Notably, his visits abroad will come at a time when the crucial G20 Summit will be held from September 9 to 10 in the national capital. India currently holds the G20 presidency. The sources said the Gandhi scion is likely to leave for Paris in the the first week of September for a five-day tour. He will attend a meeting with European Union members in Brussels on September 7. According to the sources, the former Congress chief will address students at a university in Paris on September 8 and deliver a lecture there. He is also slated to participate in a meeting of the Labour Union of France in Paris on September 9. Thereafter, the sources said Gandhi is slated to visit Norway where he will address the Indian diaspor

Risk of fatal heatwaves rises sharply over 2 decades, finds study

The risk of fatal heat waves has risen sharply over the past 20 years, and such extreme weather will become more frequent in the future, increasing heat-related excess mortality, a study shows. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that Europe will be particularly affected. Heat waves of the kind we are currently experiencing are particularly deadly for the elderly, the sick and the poor, the researchers said. The 2003 heat wave, which saw temperatures in Europe reach 47.5 degrees Celsius, was one of the worst natural disasters of recent decades, claiming an estimated 45,000 to 70,000 victims in the space of a few weeks, they said. The researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland found that such heat waves could become the new norm in the coming years. Since 2013, they have been systematically collecting data on daily heat-related excess mortality for 748 cities and communities in 47 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the US and Canada. T

Awaiting India's response on setting up dispute settlement mechanism: EU

The European Union on Saturday said it is awaiting India's response to its proposal for setting up of a dedicated dispute settlement mechanism under the bilateral investment protection pact that is being negotiated along with an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) by the two sides. The EU's Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis told a small group of journalists that both sides are engaged in "intensive" negotiations on the proposed FTA and that "progress" has been made on various issues. But at the same time the top EU official, currently on a visit to India, noted that there is "still a lot of work ahead of us". Asked when the FTA can be sealed, he said the main focus has been on "substance over deadlines". To a question, Dombrovskis said there is no direct impact of New Delhi's trade ties with Moscow on the India-EU trade negotiations, adding: "In a sense, we do not see new topics emerging which could be obstacles for the FTA in this ...

Diesel exports to Singapore set for highs in Aug, drop for Europe: Trade

India is on track to ship between 330,000 and 439,000 tons of diesel in August to Singapore, shiptracking data from Refinitiv, Vortexa and Kpler showed

Jefferies Financial is hiring 10 investment bankers to expand India team

Jefferies has been increasing its presence in Asia Pacific, seeking to leverage its stronger position as an advisory firm in other markets such as the US and Europe

Europe's sweeping rules for tech giants to kick in, here's how they work

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe are facing one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people encounter online. The first phase of the European Union's groundbreaking new digital rules will take effect this week. The Digital Services Act is part of suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA, which the biggest platforms must start following Friday, is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that's either illegal or violates a platform's terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans' fundamental rights like privacy and free speech. Some online platforms, which could face billions in fines if they don't comply, have already started making changes. Here's a look at what's happening this week: WHICH PLATFORMS ARE AFFECTED? So far, 19. They include eight social media .

Flights to charger: How to prepare for your European holiday break

Research the places you want to visit, book hotel room and flight well in time

UK inflation cools as expected in July but services surprise to upside

Despite the drop, Britain retains one of the highest rates of price growth in Western Europe, with only Iceland and Austria suffering higher inflation in July

EU govts increased R&D budget allocations by 5% to euro 117.4 mn in 2022

In 2022, the total government budget allocations for R & D (GBARD) across the EU stood at Euro 117.4 million, equivalent to 0.74 per cent of the GDP. This was a 5.4 per cent increase compared with 2021 (Euro 111 393 million) and a 49.2 per cent increase compared with 2012 (Euro 78 656 million).Data on government budget allocations for R & D (GBARD) published by Eurostat today showed that in 2022, government budget allocations for R & D at the EU level stood at Euro 262.7 per person, a 47.2 per cent increase compared with 2012 (Euro 178.5 per person). The highest allocations were recorded in Luxembourg (Euro 661.6 per person), followed at a distance by Denmark (Euro 529.1) and Germany (Euro 517.6).On the other hand, EU countries with the lowest R & D budget allocations per person were Romania (Euro 17.6 per person), Bulgaria (Euro 27.3) and Latvia (Euro 49.6).Between 2012 and 2022, all EU governments increased their budget allocations for R & D in terms of Euro per .

ECB's Philip lane sees inflation slowing significantly later this year

While price pressures won't hit the ECB's goal until sometime in 2025, the recent decline in energy will reduce costs across the economy before long, he said in a podcast produced by the central bank