#Moldova police investigating TV stations tied to fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor for tax evasion & money laundering. Suspect funds bankrolled pro-Russian propaganda ahead of Sept 28 election. Md stepping up pushback against #disinfo www.intellinews.com/moldovan-pol...

Funding cuts have hit the UN hard, and its wider membership faces tough choices about how to manage the fallout. From Gaza to Sudan to Ukraine, @crisisgroup.org lays out 🔟 challenges for the UN General Assembly to grapple with. www.crisisgroup.org/visual-expla...

Globalisation isn’t dead it’s fracturing. I spoke with Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, about his new book The Fractured Age. His take: US-China rivalry will define the world economy for decades to come: www.intellinews.com/books-global...

Months after Kosovo’s general election, it's in political and economic crisis. My colleague from @intellinews.com writes that the deadlock is worsened by Kosovo’s past: the KLA’s legacy and ethnic tensions www.intellinews.com/balkan-blog-...

Growth forecast for 2025 (%): 🇲🇹 4.1 🇩🇰 3.6 🇮🇪 3.4 🇵🇱 3.3 🇭🇷 3.2 🇨🇾 3.0 🇪🇸 2.6 🇬🇷 2.3 🇸🇮 2.0 🇱🇹 2.0 🇧🇬 2.0 🇨🇿 1.9 🇵🇹 1.8 🇱🇺 1.7 🇸🇰 1.5 🇷🇴 1.4 🇳🇱 1.3 🇪🇺 1.1 🇸🇪 1.1 🇪🇪 1.1 🇫🇮 1.0 🇭🇺 0.8 🇧🇪 0.8 🇮🇹 0.7 🇫🇷 0.6 🇱🇻 0.5 🇩🇪 0.0 🇦🇹 -0.3 Spring #ECForecast → europa.eu/!cFPpp9

Graph from the Bucharest Stock Exchange showing the rebound in the BET blue chip index after #Romania presidential election runoff; dip in middle is period b/w the 1st and 2nd rounds when unclear whether pro-EU moderate Nicusur Dan or far-right AUR leader George Simion would win

“We keep struggling, but we are strong and now we are stronger than we were in 2022, but of course we have suffered a lot,” said Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko at a high-level panel on Ukraine. Bne IntelliNews

The Middle East is bracing for another intense heatwave set to grip the region from May 17, with temperatures likely to easily surpass 50 degrees Celsius in the next few days. Bne IntelliNews

Colombia has formally joined China's Belt and Road Initiative despite strong opposition from the country's private sector, which warns the decision could severely damage domestic industries. Bne IntelliNews

This report presented at the #EBRDam analyses industrial policy from 240 countries; I previously covered it for @bneintellinews but it’s become particularly timely given the ongoing #tariffs war pro.intellinews.com/ebrd-warns-o...

Russia and Turkmenistan are primary offenders. Bne IntelliNews

#EBRDam panel looks at what happens in the Baltics after they disconnected from Russia’s electricity grid in February 2025

Looking out over #London from the #EBRD headquarters in Canary Wharf

Walid Oueslati, OECD, tells #EBRDam: there are 1bn people without access to drinkable water. "Without water there’s no development, no peace, no life. The destruction of the global hydrological cycle is big challenge for all humanity”

my coverage of the #EBRD latest forecasts for @bneIntelliNews - bank downgraded its forecasts for many countries in its region of operations

EBRD presented 2025 growth forecasts this morning at #EBRDam. deepest downgrades in CEE, Baltics and Western Balkans. Bank f’casts average growth of 3.0% across Emerging Europe, Central Asia and North Africa for 2025, down from the 3.2% predicted in February www.intellinews.com/ebrd-cuts-20...

Croatian Finance Minister Marko Primorac at the #EBRDam: “Croatia is a story of a country that had to fight for its independence in the early 90s … while other CEE countries were trying to attract FDI, Croatia had to rebuild its infrastructure and private sector, and create our democracy.”

At the #EBRDam in London's Canary Wharf this morning

partial results from #Albania's general election show PM Edi Rama's Socialists closing in on an unprecedented fourth term

📢 New ECFR special! While Europe focuses on Ukraine, the Red Sea remains a strategic blind spot. The ECFR’s new project maps these shifting dynamics and outlines 7 steps for the EU to better protect its global interests. It’s time for Europe to look south and act.

🔵 A game of cat and mouse. How Russia is circumventing sanctions ➡️ Russia 🇷🇺 still retains numerous avenues for accessing critical goods and technologies, and efforts to reduce its export revenues remain inadequate. 🔵 A report by Iwona Wiśniewska ⤵️ www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacj...

On my way from Glasgow to London to report for @intellinews.bsky.social from this year’s EBRD annual meeting #EBRDAM

Have you ever wondered in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris why the brave protest movement in Serbia no longer expects anything from the EU? Georgia, Serbia, Armenia - there's no sign of the global actor EU for stability, peace, democracy, and security on our own continent.

The US proposal on a mineral & energy agreement with Ukraine appears sheer extortion: 1. No security support; 2. US claims $100bn in prior contribution through its grants to Ukraine. 3. US majority on board. = colonial agreement. Ukraine must say no. www.ft.com/content/896d...

@intellinews.bsky.socialAs @intellinews.bsky.social has been reporting, Moscow is no longer only focussed on Transnistria; Moldova’s Gagauzia region has also increasingly become a target for Russia intellinews.com/moldova-deta...

Interesting story from @eurasianet.bsky.social on what’s been subbed the Kyrgyz Musk Act — bill would remove requirement that cabinet nominees have at least 10yrs experience in government. Key supporter thinks govt more efficient if led by entrepreneurs … working so well in the US

At today’s summit 🇪🇺 European leaders pledged to bolster Ukraine’s army as a pillar of future security, while France & UK pushed for a "reassurance force" in case of a truce with Russia. The summit highlights concerns over waning US support. #Ukraine #EUdefence

The EU has imposed sanctions on an additional 25 individuals and 7 entities in the wake of the recent so-called presidential elections in Belarus, responsible for: 🚫 supporting the regime of Lukashenka 🚫 contributing to repression and human rights abuses in #Belarus More ➡️ europa.eu/!7PpnRV

Day 120. New, free and fair Parliamentary elections, and the release of the regime prisoners. We won’t stop, and your sanctions and supporting our cause can help us avoid whatever costs can be avoided. #GeorgiaProtests

“Fact-checking is not about censorship – it’s about protecting the integrity of public discourse. Without it, propaganda and misinformation will thrive, science will suffer, and democracies will weaken.” @leonhartwell.bsky.social

@bneIntelliNews’ Ben Aris on the new world order in which values and liberal democracy are “giving way to a world run on the basis of deals” www.intellinews.com/welcome-to-t...

Several protests since fire at a nightclub killed 59 people in one of the worst tragedies in North Macedonia. If this turns into backlash against corruption like Club Collectiv did in Romania likely depends how tough govt seems in tackling such problems www.intellinews.com/peaceful-pro...

from my trip to #Almaty #Kazakhstan last month - this is the layer of air pollution over the city #pollution #environment #airpollution

🇭🇺 Is the EU finally ready to stop indulging its chief spoiler? Hungary’s obstructionism has long tested the Union’s limits – but change may be on the horizon. 👉 Read @ECFR:

The EU’s gas market in 2025: Russian gas, new US policy, and strategic uncertainties 🇪🇺Following the outbreak of full-scale war, the EU introduced a requirement to fill gas storage facilities to at least 90% by November each year. Agata Łoskot has more⤵️ www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacj...

Several names put forward to become Serbia’s next prime minister, including several serving ministers, ex PM Ana Brnabic plus a handful of outside candidates www.intellinews.com/who-will-be-...