WORLD

The European Union's executive is due to come up with a new assessment on Friday of the state of democracy in Hungary to help the bloc's 26 other member states decide on whether to grant Budapest billions of euros worth of funds.

Croatia looked poised on Thursday to join Europe's 26-nation open travel zone, but Bulgaria and Romania appeared likely to be kept out because of Austrian concerns over growing unauthorised immigration.

Time magazine named President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as "the spirit of Ukraine" as its 2022 person of the year on Wednesday, for the resistance the country has shown in the face of Russia's invasion.

Major stock markets suffered more selling Wednesday on growing fears that Federal Reserve monetary tightening will tip the US economy into recession.

This was supposed to be the comeback year for the world economy following the Covid pandemic.

German police staged nationwide raids on Wednesday and arrested 25 people suspected of belonging to a far-right "terror cell" plotting to overthrow the government and attack parliament.

The EU on Wednesday escalated disputes with China to the WTO, requesting panels be assembled to hear two cases, one over trade restrictions on Lithuania and the other on legal recourses for EU patent holders.

The European Union reached a deal in the early hours of Wednesday on a law to increase the price that airlines have to pay when they emit planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions, adding pressure to the sector to shift away from fossil fuels.

The European Union flagged tougher requirements on Wednesday for commodity companies using derivatives markets after failing to meet higher collateral calls when gas prices rocketed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea executed two high school students for reportedly watching and distributing South Korean dramas among their friends.

The European Union reached an agreement Tuesday to ban the import of products including coffee, cocoa and soy in cases where they are deemed to contribute to deforestation.

European Union finance ministers will on Tuesday look to get Hungary's backing for 18 billion euros ($18.89 billion) of support for Ukraine for next year in exchange for access to EU money from its recovery fund as well as budget.

The European Union has drafted a new proposal for normalisation of ties between Kosovo and Serbia with a clear timeline of actions, according to a senior EU diplomat, speaking on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit on Tuesday.

An Irish man who earns a whopping £105,000 per year has sued his employer, claiming he is being paid to "do nothing" at his workplace.

A man from the Indian state of Maharashtra has been booked for marrying twin sisters in a grand ceremony held in the Solapur district of the state

The dollar slid across the board on Monday as traders piled into riskier assets after more Chinese cities eased some of their COVID related restrictions, stoking hopes of an eventual reopening of the world's second biggest economy.

Turkey's inflation slowed in November for the first time since May 2021, official data showed on Monday, delivering a boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of next year's election.

The United Arab Emirates and Ukraine agreed on Monday to begin talks on a bilateral trade deal, expected to conclude by the middle of next year, the UAE's economy ministry said.

The price cap on Russian oil agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia came into force on Monday. It aims to restrict Russia's revenue as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market.

Top European Union officials are aiming to be more vocal at a trade meeting with their U.S.

A one-year-old boy was eaten alive by a crocodile while he was out with his father rowing in a river in Sabah, Malaysia.

A US cybersecurity firm has claimed that the Chinese government tried to flood social media with spam content.

Around 2,500 endangered seals were found dead in the southern Russian province of Dagestan over the weekend.

President Joe Biden said Thursday US support for green industry was not intended to be at Europe's expense as he and French leader Emmanuel Macron pledged to surmount a serious transatlantic trade dispute.

European stock markets and oil prices steadied Friday before key US jobs data and an oil output decision by OPEC and its Russia-led allies.

Japan is set to earmark 40 trillion to 43 trillion yen ($295 billion-$318 billion) for defence spending over five years starting in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Swedish-Swiss engineering giant ABB has been fined four million Swiss francs ($4.3 million) over bribery linked to the construction of a huge power plant in South Africa, Switzerland announced on Friday.

A US-led coalition fighting jihadists resumed regular patrols in Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria on Friday after earlier Turkish air strikes, an AFP correspondent and a Kurdish military source said.

The West's plan to starve Russia of resources to fight its war in Ukraine by imposing a price cap on its oil exports hit a diplomatic logjam in Brussels on Friday.