East European Countries

Sinochem sold a 14% share in Pirelli to Czech billionaire Michal Strnad on Thursday. The Chinese state-owned group has significantly reduced its investment in the Italian tyremaker. Sinochem said it sold shares as part of its 34.1% overall shareholding in a block trade deal, reducing its stake to 20,1%. This made Pirelli the second largest shareholder. Strnad’s investment company Lumina Crown issued a statement saying it had acquired a 14% stake in Pirelli, making it the third largest shareholder. It said that the investment was a “long-term” one. Strnad, the largest shareholder in the Czechoslovak Group (CSG), is a defence...

Regional governors reported on Saturday that waves of Ukrainian drone attacks killed seven warehouse workers and injured dozens more. Another attack caused a fire to break out at an oil depot within the capital region. Evgeniy Pryshov, the governor of Tambov, said that 25 people were hurt after Ukrainian drones crashed?into the warehouse of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer?in Kotovsk, located 475 km (295 miles) south of Moscow. Pervyshov, a Telegram user, wrote: "Seven night workers died right there on the spot." He added that 28 drones had been?also fired upon as they approached. He said that if they had...

Seven & i shares rose 3% on Friday in Tokyo after the Japanese retailer announced that it is in talks to buy a stake from Polish convenience store operator Zabka Group. Nikkei reports that the '7-Eleven owner may consider acquiring Zabka share held by funds. The investment is likely to be several hundred billion dollars (several billion yen). The deal would expand Seven & i’s reach beyond its strongholds of Japan and North America to Eastern Europe. This is part of the retailer’s efforts to grow under the leadership Stephen Dacus. Naoshi Matsumoto is an analyst with Yamawa Securities. He...

Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Ukraine, said that Serbia would send Ukraine more humanitarian assistance but had not signed a regional agreement calling for more pressure to be put on Russia and for continued security aid for Ukraine. Vucic had earlier met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and taken part in the regional Southeastern Europe - Ukraine summit. It was the first time in more than a decade that a Serbian president visited the Ukrainian capital. Vucic had also participated in the regional Southeastern Europe-Ukraine summit last year. Belgrade has had a long history of close relations with Moscow. It has refused...

Kyrgyzstan said it was awaiting fuel deliveries from China and Belarus to help deal with the 'knock-on effect' of a fuel shortage in its main supplier Russia. According to local media, Deputy Premier Daniyar Amangeldiev said that Kyrgyzstan has signed contracts with Belarus and China for 3 metric tons jet fuel and 10 metric tons diesel. Last week, Kyrgyzstan - which gets more than 90% its fuel from Russia - appealed for help to ensure stable fuel supplies. It asked Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan as well as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Fuel?shortages are affecting Russia following an attack by Ukrainian drones...

Sberbank's finance chief said on Wednesday that the bank will lower its corporate lending growth forecast for 2026 due to the deteriorating financial position of its borrowers. Taras Skovortsov, CFO of Bank of Russia, told the Bank of Russia Financial Congress in St Petersburg that the country's largest lender had performed better than expected, but that the economy was slowing due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the growth forecast for 2026 is only 0.4%. Skvortsov stated that "it is true?that we performed slightly better than anticipated in the first half. This is primarily due to interest income and...

Four industry sources reported on Wednesday that Kazakhstan agreed to provide 50,000 metric tonnes?of fuel to Russia as humanitarian assistance in July and August. Russia has been stricken by fuel shortages, long queues and soaring gasoline and diesel prices over the last few weeks, as Ukraine has attacked Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, to undermine Moscow's funding for war efforts. Sources in the industry have said earlier that Russia began importing gasoline from India. In summer, the?Russians consume at least 110,000 tonnes of gasoline per day. Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine is trying to create discord among the Russians....

Ukraine has hit a Russian refinery in Ufa for the second consecutive time, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said on Wednesday. Kyiv is intensifying its strikes in Russia. "Our plan to impose Ukrainian long-range sanction is being implemented every day," Zelenskiy said, referring the Ukrainian attacks deep within Russian territory. "This is a completely just response to everything Russia does against us." Zelenskiy reported that a strike was also carried out on a Russian military-industrial complex he described as "strategic", located in the Penza area, which he claimed made components for missile weapons used by Moscow to attack Ukraine....

Rumen Radev, Bulgaria's Prime Minister, said that the country will veto the latest European Union sanctions package against Russia. This is because they may negatively impact its economy. Also, because their government does not agree with the sanctions against a Russian Bishop. The EU's sanctions list was expanded on Monday by adding a total of?34 people and 47 entities that are linked to Russia’s military and industrial complex. It also includes a shadow fleet?of?oil-and-gas tankers?and others who have been involved in political interference. This includes a Russian Orthodox bishop. Radev said that the operation of Lukoil, the Russian oil company,...

The government of Hungary decided to phase out the fuel price cap that was introduced by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban in March amid a surge in crude oil prices and ahead of an election for parliament scheduled for April. Orban lost. Peter Magyar, the Prime Minister of Hungary, announced the decision via a Facebook posting. He did not specify when the price cap would end. Limited prices on petrol, diesel and other fuels have been available to vehicles registered in Hungary. The U.S. and Iran reached a framework agreement to end the conflict in the Middle East. The government...

According to LSEG and market sources, Russia's seaborne exports of oil products fell 15% a month on a monthly basis to about 3.3 mt in the first 15 days of June. This was due to?unplanned maintenance?following repeated ukranian drone attacks. Shipping data shows that the number of diesel loadings at the Baltic port Primorsk - Russia's main outlet for ultra-low sulphur fuel (ULSD) – dropped by 18% to 520,000 tonnes in the first half of June compared with the same period last year. Ukraine has intensified drone strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, with the number of oil refining facilities targeted...

Kommersant reported that the Russian government had authorized a few oil refineries to produce fuels at lower environmental standards for the domestic market. This is because the country has been experiencing fuel supply disruptions. According to data collected by, media reports and social media posts have indicated that there are supply disruptions in Russia in a dozen different regions. Only two regions of Siberia, besides the Russian-held Crimea have formally?confirmed these disruptions. Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak requested fuel market forecasts in order to avoid problems with fuel distribution and meet domestic demand. Ukraine has been targeting Russian...

Emergency services in Albania battled a wildfire?in the southern region Mallakaster while?Hungarians?cut back on power consumption due to a heatwave?and drought?that continued to affect large parts of Europe's south and east. This summer, Europe, the continent that is warming up fastest in the world, was ravaged with record-breaking temperatures and devastating wildfires. France and Spain were particularly hard hit. It is now Italy that has been focusing on the heatwave. Temperatures in some places reached around 40 degrees Celsius. It was the heat that prompted the Vatican's decision to move Pope?Leo's weekly general audience, which had been held in St...

The prime minister of Hungary said that the Paks nuclear plant in Hungary, which produces nearly half the country's electricity could be closed for weeks. Meanwhile, Romania declared a state-of-emergency due to low water levels along the Danube. The heatwave expected to increase demand for electricity in both countries will lead them to rely more on imported power. The government has asked major industrial consumers to reduce consumption. Ilie Bolojan, premier of Romania, said that the country will seek to import additional electricity from Ukraine. Greece and Bulgaria. Bolojan stated, "I declared a state of alarm on a nationwide level...

A Bosnian climbing rescue team said that five Bosnian climbers were believed to have died after being caught in a violent storm on Russia's Mount Elbrus. Russian rescuers are still searching for the bodies. The Emergencies Ministry of Russia said that rescuers saved two more?climbers who were evacuated and taken to medical care. The ministry said that the bodies of two "further" members of the group were located at an altitude 5,350 metres (17,550 feet). They would be removed when the weather permitted. The ministry said that the search for three more bodies was ongoing without specifying the nationality of...

The Danube River in Romania dropped to its 'lowest level since 1996 at the weekend. This led to a'restriction on irrigation for farmers and a partial disruption of shipping and tourism along the river banks. The 'Climate Monitor' shows that the waterways of Europe are being affected by the prolonged heatwaves this year. The Romanian state agency for water management said that the level of the second-longest European river at the Romanian entry point was 1,700 cubic metres of water per second, compared to a range of 4,700 cubic metres per second in July. The footage shows long stretches of...

South32, a diversified Australian mining company, reported lower fourth quarter copper production on Monday. This was below market expectations, due to the 'impacts of 'inclement weather that continue to impede mining operations in Chile at the Sierra Gorda Project. Heavy rainfall in March caused access to an area of mining to be restricted. South32 announced that the 'operating costs for fiscal year 2027 will be around 10% higher than the forecasted financial year 2026 due to the timing of an earlier announced one-off?payment for the workforce and higher diesel prices. Sierra Gorda, located in Chile’s mineral-rich Antofagasta Region, is jointly...

The Hungarian authorities are 'channeling' water into a large area of the Hortobagy Park National Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in order to prevent its marshlands from drying out due to this year's severe dry spell. Hortobagy, or "Puszta", is a tourist magnet in eastern Hungary. It consists of plains and wetlands and is a stopover for thousands of birds that migrate to Africa. They build nests here and breed before flying south as the autumn approaches. The largest marshland is "Fekete ret", which was once part of the?former Tisza floodplains, and its lower lying parts were irrigated with...

The organisers of the race announced on Saturday that Sunday's stage nine will be reduced by 30 km due to heat risks. However, it will still have its original start and finish locations. In a press release, the organizers announced that the stage from Malemort, originally planned for 185.5km, will now be a 155.5km route. The statement said that Meteo-France had placed the Department of?Correze under red alert because of an intense heatwave. "In light of that... the race is going to?divert the original route in the neutral area, taking the D921 from Brive-la-Gaillarde and heading straight to Lanteuil 147.8km...

A study published on Wednesday suggests that climate change could have a significant impact on Italy's economic growth in the long term and make its heavy debt burden even harder to sustain. The output of Italy could be reduced by as much as 6% by 2050. These findings are coming at a time when 'Europe, including Italy, is grappling with an intense heatwave which has seen temperatures rise above normal seasonal levels and been linked to thousands deaths on the continent. The Euro-Mediterranean Centre on?Climate Change's (CMCC) analysis argues that the damage caused by climate change goes beyond direct economic...

Scientists say that the Alps are in for another year of heavy ice losses as the snow on Swiss glaciers has disappeared weeks earlier than normal this summer. Researchers claim that the Rhone Glacier, in southern Switzerland, reached "Glacier Loss Day", on June 29. This is the day when the snow accumulated over the winter melts and the glaciers start to shed the ice beneath. Matthias Huss, the director of Glacier Monitoring Switzerland said that three months remain this year to melt ice that took decades or even generations to build up. "This is a very worrying situation," said he....

Hungarian Environment minister Laszlo Gajdos threatened to shut down factories in the EV battery industry if they did not comply with environmental regulations. This is a significant policy shift for Viktor Orban, a right-wing politician who lost his power in April. Orban, who lost power in April, has 'bet big on EV batteries. He will attract foreign investment of EUR26 billion ($29.69billion) by 2021, mostly from South Korean and Chinese companies, making Hungary a hub in Europe. Environmental and health and security concerns about the plants were a key issue before the election. Centre-right rival Peter Magyar who promised to...

Italy and the Balkans were affected by a record-breaking, heatwave on Monday. The heatwave has been causing hundreds of deaths in excess and disrupting daily life for over a week. There are growing concerns about the spread of wildfires. The National Weather Service in the United States warned of "dangerous temperatures" in central and eastern U.S., with temperatures in the 90s to lower 100s degrees Fahrenheit. This was in the days leading up to the celebrations of July 4, the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The National Weather Service warned that "the combination of prolonged daytime heat and...

Euronext Wheat fell on Friday, in line with Chicago. Falling crude oil prices and the advancing harvests in the Northern Hemisphere distracted attention from a severe heatwave that ravaged Western Europe. Maize remained near contract highs. September wheat?on?Paris-based Euronext?was down 1.6% to EUR202.75 ($231.24) per metric ton, at 1603 GMT. This was a further retreat from the four-week-high of EUR210.75 on Wednesday. Chicago wheat has also fallen by about 1.5%. As a result of increased traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices fell by around 4%. The de-escalation of the Iran conflict has also allowed fertilizer shipments to...