Tag: Europe

• Wednesday, February 6th 2019 - 08:37 UTC

  UK's service sector stagnated in January: new orders fell for the first time in 30 months

  

  The UK's service sector stagnated last month, with new orders falling for the first time in two-and-a-half years, according to the IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI). The figures showed a reading of 50.1 in January lower than December's 51.2.

• Tuesday, January 29th 2019 - 09:31 UTC

  African swine fever scare in Europe; Denmark builds a 70km fence in the border with Germany

  

  Denmark has started building a 70km fence along its border with Germany in an effort to control the migration of wild boar. There are fears that African swine fever, which has been found in two dead wild boars in Belgium, could threaten Denmark's huge pig industry. If the disease spreads, it could jeopardize almost US$ 1.7bn in pork-product exports from Denmark.

• Wednesday, January 23rd 2019 - 09:07 UTC

  Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo agrees to pay ‎€19 million for tax fraud in Spain

  

  Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has paid a fine of almost ‎€19 million for tax fraud in Spain on Tuesday but will avoid a 23-month prison sentence as part of the deal.

• Tuesday, January 22nd 2019 - 10:06 UTC

  Beware EU consumers: scheme to sell horse meat lasagna

  

  Four people are going on trial in Paris over an alleged scheme that fed consumers across Europe frozen foods containing cheap horse meat fraudulently labelled as pricier beef.

• Tuesday, January 22nd 2019 - 09:59 UTC

  French data regulator fines Google 50 million Euros for “lack of transparency”

  

  Google has been fined 50 million Euros by the French data regulator CNIL, for a breach of the EU's data protection rules. CNIL said it had levied the record fine for “lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding ads personalisation”.

• Tuesday, January 22nd 2019 - 09:51 UTC

  Cameron was warned about the referendum by EU leaders: “get real” over “this stupid referendum”

  

  The European Council President Donald Tusk told David Cameron to “get real” over his “stupid referendum” before the 2016 Brexit vote, a BBC documentary reveals. Mr Tusk tells the three-part show that he warned the then prime minister there was no “appetite for revolution in Europe” and he “could lose everything”.

• Saturday, January 19th 2019 - 08:36 UTC

  Leading Germans in an open letter ask UK to remain in the EU

  

  Leading German figures have written to the UK asking it to stay in the European Union. The letter, published in The Times, is signed by 31 people, including the leader of the Christian Democratic Union - and likely successor to Angela Merkel - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 10:01 UTC

  EU prepares contingency plans for a UK disorderly departure

  

  French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said a no-deal Brexit looks “less and less unlikely” and has launched a contingency plan to prepare for it. After the UK Parliament rejected the withdrawal agreement, Mr Philippe said laws had to be passed and millions invested in French ports and airports.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 08:45 UTC

  Speaker of UK Parliament John Bercow, next Brexit victim?

  

  Such is the anger with the Speaker of the UK Parliament at senior levels of government, it has been suggested he could be blocked from getting a peerage when he retires. Ministers are furious at what they see as John Bercow's “bias” during Commons debates on Brexit.

• Thursday, January 17th 2019 - 09:01 UTC

  McDonald's defeated by Irish rival over the rights to the “Big Mac” name

  

  McDonald's has been defeated in a trademark dispute over its rights to the “Big Mac” name brought by a tiny Irish rival called Supermac's. The European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUPO, ruled that McDonald's did not have the exclusive right to “Big Mac” trademark in Europe, after McDonald's tried to use it to stop the Irish chain from expanding into Europe.