Friday

29th Mar 2024

Ticker

Russia and Belarus make show of force, friendship

Russia and Belarus have begun the largest military drill seen in Europe in decades, with the 'Zapad 2021' exercise to see more than 200,000 troops mobilised in a simulated war with Nato powers. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko Thursday, also agreed to loan Minsk $630m and to maintain low prices for gas and oil exports, after the EU imposed economic sanctions on Belarus.

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Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

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