Page 44 - Europe

Unilever downbeat on Europe, China consumer sentiment; raise prices

Like the rest of the consumer goods industry, Unilever's margins have been squeezed since the start of the war in Ukraine that has pushed up costs of energy and key ingredients

Continental power grid spanning Japan to India inches closer to reality

Plans for a web of sub-sea cables that would create a continental power grid spanning Japan to India are rapidly becoming cheaper and more feasible

Gas crunch eases in Europe - but the respite might not last

Natural gas and electricity prices in Europe have plunged from summer peaks thanks to mild weather and a monthslong scramble to fill gas storage ahead of winter and replace Russian supplies during the war in Ukraine. It's a welcome respite after Russia slashed natural gas flows, triggering an energy crisis that has fuelled record inflation and a looming recession. Yet experts warn it's too soon to exhale, even as European governments roll out relief packages for people struggling with high utility bills and work on longer-term ways to contain volatile gas and electricity prices that have shrunk household budgets and forced some businesses to shut down. Uncertainties include not only the weather but how responsive people will be to appeals to turn down their heating and how much demand there will be from Asian economies for scarce energy supplies. And the war a few hours east is a cauldron of possible unpleasant surprises that could cut energy supplies needed for electricity, heating

Ukraine alleges Russian dirty bomb deception at Europe's largest nuke plant

Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said on Tuesday that Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, activity that could shed light on Russia's claims that the Ukrainian military is preparing a provocation involving a radioactive device. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was preparing to launch a so-called dirty bomb. Shoigu levelled the charge over the weekend in calls to his British, French, Turkish and US counterparts. Britain, France and the United States rejected it out of hand as transparently false. Ukraine also dismissed Moscow's claim as an attempt to distract attention from the Kremlin's own alleged plans to detonate a dirty bomb, which uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror. Energoatom, the Ukrainian state enterprise that operates the country's four nuclear power plants, said Russian forces have carried out secret construction work over the last wee

EU leaders agree on roadmap to protect consumers from rising energy prices

Leaders of the European Union (EU) member states have agreed on a 'roadmap' of measures to protect European consumers from soaring energy prices

Eurasian Economic Union members gather to promote economic integration

The five member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have vowed to enhance cooperation in various fields during a meeting in Armenia's capital Yerevan

Guangdong: The Chinese province with more EV chargers than all of the US

The coastal region, which borders Hong Kong, has built hundreds of thousands of public charging points - the EV equivalent of gas pumps - over the past few years

Russia's war in Ukraine revives old nuclear fears in central Europe

Two stories beneath a modern steel production plant on Warsaw's northern edge lies an untouched Cold War relic: a shelter containing gas masks, stretchers, first aid kits and other items meant to help civil defense leaders survive and guide rescue operations in case of nuclear attack or other disasters. A map of Europe on a wall still shows the Soviet Union and no independent Ukraine. Old boots and jackets give off a musty odour. A military field switchboard warns: Attention, your enemy is listening. Until now, nobody had seriously considered that the rooms built in the 1950s and now maintained as a historical curiosity by the ArcelorMittal Warszawa plant, according to spokeswoman Ewa Karpinska might one day be used as a shelter again. But as Russia pounds Ukraine, with shelling around a nuclear power plant and repeated Russian threats to use a nuclear weapon, the Polish government ordered an inventory this month of the 62,000 air raid shelters in the country. The war has trigge

EU leaders weigh support for Ukraine as new refugee exodus beckons

European Union leaders are gathering on Friday to take stock of their support for Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia is trying to spark a refugee exodus by destroying his war-ravaged country's energy infrastructure. Nearly eight months into the war, Russia is increasingly targeting Ukraine's power stations, waterworks and other key infrastructure with missile and drone strikes. Meanwhile, the EU is struggling with the fallout of having to urgently wean itself off Russian gas and oil as the war fuels price hikes and market nervousness. In a speech via video link to European leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Zelenskyy said that attacks by Russian cruise missiles and Iranian combat drones have destroyed more than a third of our energy infrastructure. Because of this, unfortunately we are no longer able to export electricity to help you maintain stability. Russia also provokes a new wave of migration of Ukrainians to EU countries, by attacking electricity and

Recession could last until 2024, says Musk after remark on China, Europe

Tesla CEO said he thinks a recession will last until the spring of 2024, after earlier saying "a recession of sorts" in China and Europe was weighing on demand for its electric cars

Europe Is Buying Up Cheaper Brazilian Ethanol Amid Energy Crisis

Prices for natural gas and power are so high in Europe that some ethanol makers have considered shutting down plants

EU leaders united against Russia, divided over today's energy summit

The European Union has shown rock-solid unity in confronting Russia over its war in Ukraine, but EU leaders lack that common purpose heading into Thursday's summit to seek joint measures to contain an energy crisis that has already dented their economy and threatens to spread hardship among the bloc's 450 million people this winter. Natural gas prices spiraled out of control over the summer as EU nations sought to outbid one another to fill up their reserves for winter. Now EU leaders will seek to increasingly pool their purchases of gas and set a temporary price cap to make sure an overheated energy market does not return to haunt them again. The 27-nation bloc hit Russia with a series of economic sanctions since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded by choking off pipelines that used to send plentiful oil and gas to stoke the wheels of industry across much of the EU. Russia has systemically tried to blackmail us through energy, said EU ...

Energy stockpiling in overdrive soothes worries of winter shortfall

Europe's natural gas storage sites are about 92% full, above the the five-year average of 87.6%. Germany has hit 95%, a level it aimed to reach by Nov. 1

European stocks head higher on UK policy turnaround; yen hits fresh low

European stock indexes opened higher on Tuesday, in a revival of risk appetite which analysts attributed to the turnaround in UK fiscal policy

FY23 will likely be double digit on revenue...and profitable: Mindtree MD

In a Q&A, Debashis Chatterjee, who is also the firm's CEO, talks about the demand environment, merger with LTI and moonlighting

Turkey, Russia to study Russian President Putin's gas hub proposal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical studies on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the Turk Stream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea's Nord Stream pipeline were halted. Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey's Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria appeared to be the best spot. Together with Mr. Putin, we have instructed our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together, Erdogan said. They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution center there

Vladimir Putin suggests turning Turkey into gas hub for Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday doubled down on his proposal to turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe after deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea's Nord Stream pipeline were halted. Putin floated the idea of exporting more gas through the Turk Stream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey as he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kazakhstan. It's the second unlikely energy proposal that Putin has pitched in as many days, with European leaders calling Russia's cuts in natural gas a political bid to divide them over their support for Ukraine. It's created an energy crisis heading into winter that has fueled inflation, forced some industries to cut production and sent home utility bills soaring. A day earlier, Germany rejected Putin's proposal to step up gas flows to Europe via a link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea a pipeline that has never been operational despite Moscow cuttin

India's inflation at 7.4%; What are inflation numbers in other countries?

Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February, almost all the economies have been facing high inflation mainly driven by high commodity costs, and supply chain constraints

Russia ready to resume gas supplies to EU via Nord Stream 2: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via a link of Germany-bound Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea. Speaking at a Moscow energy forum, Putin again charged that the U.S. was likely behind the explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, causing a massive gas leak and taking them out of service. The U.S. has previously rejected similar allegations by Putin.

Rising clout: Which countries have adopted NPCI-backed UPI payments so far

With Europe being the latest addition to the list, several countries across the globe are adopting UPI for P2P, P2M and cross-border payments