A European court on Wednesday cancelled EU sanctions imposed on the mother of Russian paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an embarrassing setback for Brussels' punitive response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.. In a statement, the EU General Court said even if Prigozhin was responsible for illegal acts in Ukraine, the evidence presented against his mother when the sanctions were applied last year was insufficient.
Panama and Canadian giant First Quantum Minerals announced on Wednesday a deal to reopen a major copper mine whose operations had been suspended for three months over a tax dispute.. First Quantum, one of the largest copper miners in the world, began commercial copper production at the site in Donoso in 2019, through a company called Minera Panama.
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday became the first major central bank to pause its aggressive monetary policy in recent months, holding its key lending rate at 4.5 percent as inflation eased, after eight consecutive rate increases.. He'd signaled last month that a pause was coming, after pointing out that inflation was "turning the corner" and recent higher interest rates were "beginning to rebalance the economy."
French unions on Wednesday pressed a standoff with the government over a deeply unpopular pensions overhaul, with fuel deliveries, trains and flights disrupted for a second day following mass rallies.. - 'Extra pressure' - Eric Sellini, national coordinator of the CGT union federation at energy giant TotalEnergies, said workers at most fuel shipping sites were again on strike on Wednesday morning.
TikTok launched a new effort to assuage European leaders' worries over data security on Wednesday, as Western governments consider further bans on the video-sharing app.. Their initiative came as the Czech cyber watchdog issued its own warning, describing the Chinese-owned video-sharing app a security threat.
US employers stepped up their pace of hiring in February, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday, in a further indication that more effort may be needed to cool the world's biggest economy.. Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned on Tuesday that policymakers are prepared to step up rate hikes -- and lift rates higher than previously anticipated -- if needed to cool inflation and the robust jobs market.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said Wednesday she will do whatever it takes to bring down high inflation and restore price stability.. "We will restore that price stability and we will do whatever it takes," she said.
European and American antitrust authorities are investigating some of the biggest names in the global fragrance industry over allegations they colluded to fix prices and thwart competitors, Switzerland's regulator said Wednesday.. The European Commission, the EU's powerful antitrust authority, said Tuesday that its teams carried out unannounced inspections "at the premises of companies and an association active in the fragrance industry in various member states" after consulting US, UK and Swiss competition regulators.
The United States' candidate to head the World Bank, Ajay Banga, on Wednesday called for a revamp of the development model to better meet the challenge of climate change. . The United States is the World Bank's largest shareholder.
French energy group EDF has reported discovering a significant new crack in a cooling pipe at a nuclear power plant on the Channel coast, in the latest such incident to plague the energy sector.. The group last month reported the latest "serious corrosion problem" on an emergency cooling system at its Penly 1 plant in northern France which was among the 16 taken offline in the last year.
