European Union

According to preliminary estimates, the decline in global gas demand in 2022 is equal to 65 billion cubic metre, and "55 billion cubic metre from these 65 billion fall on the 27 European countries," Gazprom said in a statement, citing Miller as speaking at a year-end meeting on Wednesday.

Moscow named China, Turkiye, southeast Asia, member states of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and CIS countries as priority areas for diversifying metal supplies. According to Manturov, trade flows will also focus on the Latin American, African, and Middle Eastern markets, RT reported.

Though Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the 2020-21 budget, had envisaged doubling ship recycling capacity by 2024, it does not seem to be happening till European Union regulations are met. This is possible, but unfortunately the government machinery is working at a very slow pace in meeting the EU regulations on hazardous waste management and other conditions.

VMware was acquired by chip and software maker Broadcom from Dell Technologies for $61 billion in May this year.The Commission said it is particularly concerned that the "transaction would allow Broadcom to restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components which interoperate with VMware's software".

The interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will be increased to 2.5 per cent, 2.75 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, with effect from December 21, Xinhua news agency quoted the bank as saying in a statement. The inflation outlook, which has been revised substantially higher, has been the main reason behind the ECB's move.

According to BBC, the European Commission ruled that airlines can offer 5G technology alongside slower mobile data on board planes. With this, flyers will no longer be required to put their phone in flight mode, though the details of how this will be implemented remain unknown.

Energy ministers of European Union (EU) member states will reconvene to seek a common ground on the currently controversial draft measures, Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying on Thursday. EU member states reached a political agreement on a package of measures that will allow households and businesses to buy enough energy at affordable prices, Sikela said.

The conference, held by the EC and the European Central Bank (ECB) in Brussels, focuses on the legislative framework for the digital euro, reports Xinhua news agency. "The European Commission has been working together with the ECB to respond to the growing demand for online payments," Valdis Dombrovskis, EC executive vice-president, said at the conference.

The agreement was reached after several hours of discussions over proposals to lower energy bills, which have skyrocketed due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, reports Xinhua news agency. The summit agreement sets out a "solid roadmap to keep on working on the topic of energy prices", European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

Until February this year, Russia was one of the main trade partners of the European Union. In 2021, Moscow was the EU's fifth largest trade partner, representing 5.8 per cent of the region's total trade in goods with the world. Besides oil and gas, EU's imports from Russia comprised wood, iron and steel, fertiliser, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, pearl, and precious stones among other items. The EU is already India's second largest trading partner after the US.