Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Europe

Hard Numbers: Much ado about Ma, EU-Russia holdouts, Ukrainians in Mexico, Oz raises interest rates

Hard Numbers: Much ado about Ma, EU-Russia holdouts, Ukrainians in Mexico, Oz raises interest rates
Gabriella Turrisi
Make us preferred on Google

9.4: Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba plunged by as much as 9.4% on Tuesday after state broadcaster CCTV abruptly announced that someone named "Ma" had been detained. CCTV later clarified that it was not Jack Ma, Alibaba's billionaire founder caught in the crosshairs of Xi Jinping's tech crackdown.


2: The EU looks ready to ban Russian oil imports as a bloc over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But so far there are two holdouts: Hungary — whose PM Viktor Orbán is Vladimir Putin’s best EU buddy — and Slovakia, which claims its sole refiner can’t immediately switch to non-Russian crude.

500: Some 500 Ukrainian refugees are waiting in a makeshift camp in Mexico City for US immigration authorities to process their papers. President Joe Biden says they're welcome but has not exempted them from Title 42, a pandemic-era rule to curb immigration that requires US asylum-seekers to apply from a third country.

0.35: Australia's central bank upped interest rates by 0.35% Tuesday, the first hike in over a decade. It's a long-overdue move to combat rising inflation, expected to be a major campaign issue ahead of the parliamentary election on May 21.

More For You

The demolition of the border fence between Spain and Gibraltar in La Línea de la Concepción, on July 15, 2026.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo attend a ceremony marking the demolition of the border fence between Spain and Gibraltar in La Línea de la Concepción, on July 15, 2026.

Samuel Vega/JNA Press/Sipa USA
A physical border falls, a digital one risesSome 118 years after it was installed, the border fence between Spain and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar fell on Tuesday, after the European Union and the United Kingdom clinched a long-awaited deal last year over how to manage the border in the wake of Brexit. But while one wall falls, [...]
Europe has one last spree of Russian gas
Will Fitzpatrick
Months before an EU ban on Russian gas imports goes into effect, European countries are filling up their proverbial cups. The massive purchase of liquified natural gas, mostly from France, Belgium and Spain, highlights just how reliant Europe has been on Russian energy, even as it has sought to wean itself off since the beginning of Moscow’s [...]
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO leaders summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026.​

US President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alongside the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Trump gives Ukraine another boostUS President Donald Trump said he would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air-defense missiles during the NATO meeting in Turkey on Wednesday, fulfilling a longstanding request from Kyiv. These interceptors can protect Ukraine from Russia’s ballistic missiles – Kyiv is struggling to block such attacks. [...]
The day after announcing her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, Marine Le Pen visits La Fleche, in the Sarthe department, on July 8, 2026.​

The day after announcing her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, Marine Le Pen (National Rally – RN), accompanied by Jordan Bardella, made her first campaign appearance during a visit to the market in La Fleche, in the Sarthe department, on July 8, 2026.

Frederic Petry / Hans Lucas
Yesterday, a French appeals court shortened a ban on far-right leader Marine Le Pen seeking public office, effectively allowing her to stand in the 2027 presidential election. Hours after the verdict was announced, Le Pen officially announced her fourth bid for the Elysée Palace, despite judges upholding her embezzlement conviction and sentencing [...]