News
Russian retailers experiment with hard discount strategies that are shaking up the sector
Six years of real income stagnation have caused a small revolution in Russia’s retail sector as more companies are experimenting with fixed price hard discount offers to boost revenues at the cash desk.
European Commission slashes projects in Romania’s Recovery and Resilience Plan
Bucharest is struggling to marry the EU’s calls for green projects and digitalisation with Romania’s needs for motorways and gas distribution networks.
Zelenskiy's popularity recovers a little in polls, but his Servant of the People Party rating still falling
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s popularity has recovered slightly in the polls following several months of action by the president but those of his Servant of the People party are still sliding
German Foreign Minister Maas opposes tougher Russia sanctions, says they won't help Navalny
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he is opposed to new sanctions on Russia and that they would not help jailed anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who is serving a two-year sentence on fraud charges.
Turkey introducing “full lockdown” to curb dramatic coronavirus surge
Officials make move partly as an attempt to save country’s tourism industry from second straight year of devastating losses.
AKP officials’ “grey passport” smuggling of Turks to Europe starting to create ripples
Yesilyurt case, in which only four of 47 party members who went to Germany for a study trip returned, exposes scandal.
Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines testing eurobond waters
Low cost carrier has a limit of up to $750mn approved by the Turkish Capital Markets Board.
Preliminary results show lead for ruling Socialists in Albania
Socialist leader Edi Rama could be heading for historic third term, but with only around one third of the ballot boxes counted there is still time for the picture to change.
Bulgaria heading for snap election as second party says will it not form government
The options for forming a government after Bulgaria's April 4 general election have narrowed as There Are Such People's nominee for PM chess champion Antoaneta Stefanova will immediately return the mandate.
EU condemns Moldovan parliament’s vote to sack top Constitutional Court judge
MPs attempted to change the composition of the Constitutional Court after it approved President Maia Sandu’s request for snap elections.
Former Russian president Medvedev offers the US an olive branch in opinion piece on the Cuban missile crisis
Former Russian prime minister and president Dmitry Medvedev offered the US an olive branch in the form of an opinion piece about the Cuban missile crisis.
Belarus' Lukashenko makes his big announcement, but it wasn't about merging Russia and Belarus
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko made his big announcement on April 24, but it wasn't about merging Russia and Belarus as some had suspected. Lukashenko will change the rules of succession and give more power to the Security Council.
Czech President Milos Zeman casts doubt on Russian involvement in arms depot explosion
Pro-Russian president accused of confusing the government's message to its Nato and EU allies.
Putin-Biden summit scheduled for June – maybe
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden could meet in June for a mooted summit, but the final decision will depend on many factors, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel on April 23.
EU Commission rules that Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has conflict of interest
Billionaire's conglomerate blocked from receiving investment subsidies and may have to repay aid received since 2017.
Exit poll indicates very close race in Albanian general election
At this stage either the ruling Socialists or the main opposition parties could come out on top.
Erdogan treads carefully as Biden recognises Armenian genocide
Massive fallout with Washington could “cause the Turkish economy to tank”, says analyst. US formal declaration “is a matter of truth, historical justice and security to the Republic of Armenia”, says Armenian PM.
Trifonov’s party next in line to form Bulgarian government but former TV host stays silent on plans
PM Boyko Borissov’s Gerb party handed back the mandate to form a government after it failed to find coalition partners.
Navalny ends his hunger strike after three weeks
Jailed anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny has ended his hunger strike after three weeks and agreed to take a vitamin treatment offered to him by prison doctors, Navalny said in a social media post.
Putin holds out hand of co-operation at online climate summit with Biden
In the morning of April 22 it looked like Russia was revving up to start WWIII by invading Ukraine. By the end of the day Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding out the hand of co-operation in a global effort to beat the climate crisis.
