Author: Steven Sahiounie

Savers are hunting for greater returns amid rising benchmark interest rates across the continent A vast majority of European banking giants reported a drop in deposits in the past 12 months as customers began searching for better savings deals, according to analysis released by S&P Global on Tuesday. The agency’s analysts say the fall reflects depositor efforts to find higher-yielding products to pay down increasingly expensive debt. According to the report, total deposits at European financial institutions in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Benelux and Nordic regions saw a year-over-year decline of 3.9% to €21.675 trillion ($23.68 trillion) in…

Demand is increasing for lithium, particularly from China, the media outlet reports The global supply of lithium, which is used to make batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, is expected to fall short of demand as early as 2025, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing Fitch Solutions research unit BMI. Analysts predominantly attribute the potential shortage to lithium demand in China, which currently exceeds the country’s available supplies. “We expect an average of 20.4% year-on-year annual growth for China’s lithium demand for EVs [electric vehicles] alone over 2023-2032,” BMI said in its latest report, adding that lithium supply in the world’s…

Shares jumped after the successful first flight of a domestically-built airliner Shares of Russian state-run aerospace company United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) soared 45% on Tuesday after the maiden flight of the country’s first fully domestically-built aircraft. Earlier, the Russian Industry Ministry said that an SSJ-100 equipped only with domestically-produced components had carried out its first flight. The airliner flew at altitudes of up to 3,000 meters (9,800ft) and speeds of 343 kilometers (213 miles) per hour. As of 16:48 Moscow time, shares of UAC and Yakovlev Design Bureau, which designed the jet, were trading around 30% higher than yesterday. Aviation…

The company says an undetected system malfunction has prevented it from processing orders for components Japanese auto giant Toyota has announced it will resume operations at domestic assembly plants on Wednesday after a 24-hour stoppage caused by a system glitch. The company continues to investigate the cause of the disruption, which began on Monday and prevented Toyota from processing orders for components. Production is expected to return to normal at each of its 14 plants in Japan from the start of the second shift on Wednesday, the company said. The plants together account for about a third of the automaker’s…

Record high precipitation in Denmark hit consumer spending last month, statistics show  Retail sales in Denmark during July plunged the most since the Covid-19 pandemic, with economists blaming record rainfall for weak consumer spending, Statistics Denmark reported on Monday. Seasonally adjusted retail turnover fell by 4.4% compared to the previous month in the biggest decline since the spring of 2021, when lockdowns hit consumption. Rainfall broke a 92-year record in July, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute. “This meant that many Danes went abroad for a holiday but it can also have prompted others to reduce consumption,” Soren Kristensen,…

Soldiers in Gabon, following elections in the country, appeared on national television Wednesday and announced the cancellation of the elections and dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic,” media reported. After observing “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos… we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the media quoted one of the soldiers as saying. The soldier was speaking on behalf of the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions,” the report said. The journalists also reported that gunfire was…

Bryansk Region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said Wednesday that Russia’s air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the city of Bryansk. “Air defense forces of the Russian Defense Ministry foiled an attack by Ukrainian terrorists. An unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down over the Sovetsky district of Bryansk. There were no casualties,” the governor said, adding that the drone crash partially damaged the roof and glazing of an administrative building. Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that it had destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk region. Source: Sputnik

The diplomatic mission noted that the United States “will in no way abandon the concept of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian” The Russian embassy in Washington on Wednesday described the US decision to send another package of military aid to Ukraine as “the height of hypocrisy.” “The said delivery to the bankrupt Zelensky regime of HIMARS and air defense systems shells as well as other ammunition worth a quarter of a billion dollars is the height of hypocrisy. All the more so when officials attribute military assistance to “concern” for the people of Ukraine. In reality, Washington will not…

According to the source, this can give a new impetus to the development of relations between the two countries Russia and Turkey may sign a number of agreements following the planned talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi, a source in Ankara told a TASS correspondent on Wednesday. “There is a possibility that Turkey and Russia may sign a number of agreements in Sochi following the talks of the leaders. Naturally, it may give a new impetus to the development of relations between the two countries. However,…

Environmentalists have long accused Greece of spending more funds on extinguishing fires than on prevention A wildfire burning in northeastern Greece for 11 days has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Tuesday, as firefighters from five countries battled to contain the flames.Fuelled by gale force winds and hot weather, the fire that began near the city of Alexandroupolis quickly spread across the Evros region, killing at least 20 people last week in Europe’s deadliest blaze this summer. It turned lush greenery into scorched earth and destroyed homes and livelihoods.In…