Bloomberg The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, is pushing member states to boost the amount of Ukrainian military aid the bloc will finance by 500 million euros ($522 million) to 2 billion euros, according to people familiar with the discussions. Member states have yet to agree to the proposal regarding the European Peace Facility, with Germany the main holdout ...

Bloomberg Croatia’s top diplomat rejected President Zoran Milanovic’s threat to veto the accession of Sweden and Finland into Nato, vowing that the government would ensure they were brought into the alliance. “We won’t be the only nation to defy the principles and values of Nato, which we fought so hard to join,” Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman told reporters in ...

Bloomberg Kosovo’s announcement that it plans to join Europe’s top human rights body triggered a protest from Serbia, which has vowed to halt the attempts at international recognition of its neighbour, whose sovereignty it rejects. “Serbia can’t do much, but will fight on the international scene for further withdrawals of recognition of Kosovo independence,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in ...

  Bloomberg Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran lawmaker and former premier, has been named Sri Lanka’s next prime minister days after the last incumbent, the brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resigned in the face of escalating anger with the deepening economic crisis. The president’s media unit confirmed the appointment in a text message. No other details were immediately available. The announcement ...

  Bloomberg John Nkengasong, the outgoing head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the continent is facing the dual pandemics of Covid-19 and HIV, which could lead to the emergence of new variants. As he readies himself to lead the US global AIDS program, he warned that the continent is on a very uncertain and unpredictable trajectory ...

  Bloomberg Fierce competition for workers pushed UK salaries higher in April, according to a survey that will put pressure on the Bank of England (BOE) to continue tightening monetary policy in its battle to tame inflation. As candidate availability declined for the 14th straight month, starting-salary inflation held close to a record high, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and ...

  Bloomberg The French economy will grow only 0.2% in the second quarter after stagnating at the start of the year as companies face increasing difficulty getting supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Bank of France said. The share of industrial firms reporting supply issues affecting their output rose to 65% in the central bank’s monthly survey, the highest ...

  Bloomberg Spain will seek to tap European post-pandemic recovery loans, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. Spain is working with the European Commission to tap “funds that are available as loans,” after having already received funds as unconditional grants, Sanchez said in an event in Madrid on Thursday. “We will seek to incorporate part of these loans to our recovery ...

  Bloomberg Denmark is raising its economic growth forecast for 2022 as the Nordic country’s strong labour market will help the economy overcome most global headwinds, according to government documents seen by Bloomberg News. Gross domestic product will likely expand 3.4% this year, up from the government’s main scenario in March of 1.6%, the documents showed. The economy will grow ...

  Bloomberg Swedish inflation surged more than expected in April, increasing expectations country’s central bank will have to speed up rate hikes it flagged last month to restore trust in its policy target. The central bank’s target measure, CPIF, accelerated to 6.4% on an annual basis in April, the highest level since 1991, according to data released by Statistics Sweden ...