FINLAND

War-torn

FINLAND awaits news regarding the European Union’s position regarding Russians who fled the country to avoid conscription. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) said 1,109 Russian citizens so far have sought asylum in Finland to avoid being called up to fight in the Ukraine war.

Ireland

Cool it

JIM CHAMBERS, 62, and Stephen Cole, 40, who operate rival ice cream vans, appeared at Falcarragh District Court (County Donegal), the pair accused of fighting over the same beachside pitch. Both faced breach of the peace charges but were let off after agreeing to put aside hostilities for the summer.

Italy

Fewer babies

FOR the first time, the number of annual births fell below 400,000 in Italy, averaging 1.25 babies per woman, official figures for 2022 revealed. The replacement rate is now negative, with the number of deaths currently exceeding the number of births, with 12 people dying for every seven babies born.

Portugal

Home again

DOZENS of European Jewish community leaders attended a conference on communal strategies in Porto, whose 1,000-strong Jewish community has tripled in recent years. This was partly thanks to a 2015 law giving Portuguese citizenship to descendants of Jews expelled during the Inquisition, which began in 1536.

Ukraine

Grain deal

AGREEMENT has been reached on extending by two months the deal allowing grain exports from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. The agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed last year and brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, would otherwise have expired on May 19.

Sweden

Smoke-free

SWEDEN could become one of the world's first ‘smoke-free’ countries, with less than 5 per cent of the adult population smoking. With smoking rates falling from 15 to 5.6 per cent over the past 15 years, it is on course to reach this milestone within months, 17 years ahead of the EU's 2040 target.

STAT OF WEEK €1.4 billion

will go to Spain’s rolling stock manufacturer for supplying a second delivery of 56 trains under the contract it signed with Germany’s rail operator Deutsche Bahn in 2019.

BUSINESS EXTRA Sorry about that

Tasty pasty

GREGGS announced that sales have increased by 17 per cent over the last year, saying its products remained “compelling” to customers in the cost ­ of ­ living crisis. The bakery chain, which first opened in Newcastle in 1951, opened 63 new shops this year and extended some opening hours.

Defence gambit

AEROSPACE, defence and security company, Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, acquired 3 per cent of Indra, Spain’s leading IT and defence systems multinational. The €65 million transaction makes Escribano’s Indra’s second industrial partner and strengthens its presence in the Defence sector.

Winter duels

STRIKES wiped out more than 2.8 million working days in the UK during the ‘winter of discontent’, with 566 lost in March alone, official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed. Industrial action between October 2022 and the end of March was the worst since 1989, the ONS said.

Main concern

DESPITE the cost of living crisis, 30 per cent of Spanish consumers are more concerned about sustainability than price, EY consultants found. The tendency to take environmental factors into consideration before looking at price tags was usually generational, and more common amongst the young, researchers said.

Helping hand

FAMILY members spent £38 billion (€43.76 billion) on assisting relatives over the last five years, according to a survey by insurance firm SunLife. The most common reason amongst the over ­ 50s was helping their children to buy a house, with 26 per cent contributing an average of £26,680 (€30,730).

Linda Hall

THE European Commission (EC) gave the go­ahead to Microsoft’s $69 billion (€63.21 billion) merger with Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

Brussels made the proviso that Microsoft had to ensure that Activision’s game catalogue was freely available on other cloud gamestreaming providers over the next 10 years.

The decision was announced weeks after the merger was blocked by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), whose chief executive Sarah Cardell defended the watchdog’s earlier decision.

It was not her intention to