The European Commission intends to introduce a pan-European fuel tax on airlines, Reuters reported, citing a draft document that was made available to the agency. Currently, the EU does not impose a fuel tax on airlines. However, as noted in the document, such a policy is "not consistent with the current climate problems" and the desire of European authorities to reduce harmful emissions. ...

China's debt has risen sharply over the past decade and has become one of the biggest challenges for the Chinese government, CNBC reported. Beijing sees the country's rising level of liabilities as a potential threat to economic stability. In recent years, the authorities have tried to reduce dependence on them, but the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting crisis have halted efforts in this...

G20 countries continue to roll back measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic. By May this year, 49% of the restrictions had been lifted, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) report. The organisation estimated the value of trade-restrictive measures at $135.7 billion. It also reported that the coverage of trade facilitation measures implemented since the beginning of the...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has pardoned nine Catalan separatist leaders convicted of a failed attempt to declare regional independence in 2017. Mr Sanchez announced the pardon in a televised address. The ban on those pardoned from holding public office remains in place, Reuters reported. Catalan separatist leaders were sentenced in 2019 to between nine and 13 years for offences of...

The EU Council extended sanctions against Belarus over the emergency landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk. The list includes 78 people and eight organisations. The US also imposed sanctions against the republic: six legal entities and 16 individuals were blacklisted. The UK, Canada and Ukraine also joined the sanctions. "Today the Council decided to impose restrictive measures against 78...

An Indian strain of coronavirus is highly likely to become dominant in the world, says WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, quoted by The Straits Times. A new delta variant of COVID-19 is beginning to dominate the world because of its higher prevalence, the WHO spokesperson said. On May 26, it was reported that the WHO allowed the possibility that the Indian strain of the coronavirus to...

The number of Italians living in absolute poverty (below a monthly income of between 569.56 euros and 839.78 euros per person, depending on the region) was last year the highest since 2005, when such statistics began to be kept. In 2020, more than 5.6 million people and more than two million families in Italy were living in absolute poverty. More than 2.6 million families were in relative poverty...

This year, the global economy must focus primarily on the task of vaccinating people, said International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva, quoted by CNBC. She described this as the main focus for efforts in the near future. "Vaccination policy this year, and possibly next year, will be the most important part of economic policy, in terms of importance it could surpass even monetary...

A new outbreak of the coronavirus in one of the world's main container trading hubs, China's Guangdong province, has caused disruption to major ports in the south of the country. The partial closure of the Yantian terminal in Shenzhen has led to a reallocation of cargo to nearby Nansha and Shekou terminals, causing congestion there as well. Container shipping disruptions linked to the new...